The RPAS and AAM Strategic Regulatory Roadmap

Corporate publications

The RPAS and AAM Strategic Regulatory Roadmap

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An AAM vehicle sitting in a carpark
The cover of the RPAS roadmap, with a photo of a drone flying over a lake in the bottom-right corner and a render of an AAM vehicle in the centre
The cover of the RPAS roadmap

The Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) and Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) Strategic Regulatory Roadmap (the Roadmap) is part of the Emerging Technologies Program. This program focuses on safely and efficiently integrating emerging aviation technologies and systems into Australia's airspace and civil regulatory framework.

The Roadmap explains our plan for regulating RPAS and AAM over the next 10 to 15 years.

It sets out our strategy and planning to safely integrate these technologies into Australia’s airspace and future regulatory system, alongside traditional aviation.

We aim to create clear and risk-based rules along with simple, flexible and efficient authorisation pathways for emerging technologies.

First released in 2022, the Roadmap was reviewed in 2024 in consultation with industry. We will continue to evolve it to keep pace with new technologies and innovations, supporting emerging industries.

Roadmap updates

See the latest updates on the RPAS and AAM Strategic Regulatory Roadmap, which highlight the progress made since the 2024 review. The updates show progress made in safety and regulation to improve RPAS and AAM operations.

For more information, please view our latest webinar on the Roadmap's progress, key milestones, and upcoming initiatives.

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In this publication

Table of contents
In this section
  • Introduction
    The Roadmap sets out Australia’s future approach to aviation safety regulations and oversight for remotely piloted aircraft systems and advanced air mobility.
  • Developing the roadmap
    The Roadmap was a commitment under the National Emerging Aviation Technologies Policy Statement. In 2024, the Aviation Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) formed a Technical Working Group (TWG) tasked to review the Roadmap following industry consultation. The review also aligned the Roadmap with the Government’s Aviation White Paper → Towards 2050.
  • Challenges and principles
    The remotely piloted aircraft systems and advanced air mobility sectors are rapidly evolving. While the Roadmap provides a long-term vision for regulating safety in these areas, there are still challenges and uncertainty about future needs.
  • Roadmap structure
    The Roadmap is based on 6 regulatory areas and covers 4 time horizon assessments of how the RPAS and AAM sectors will evolve: Immediate term – 2024 to 2026, Near term – 2027 to 2029, Medium term – 2030 to 2034, Long term – beyond 2034.
  • Supporting activities
    There are 5 overarching supporting activities that support the Roadmap: Digital services; Research, development and testing; Regulatory sandboxes; Systems assurance; and Community.
  • Regulatory areas and activities
    The roadmap has been developed using 6 regulatory areas across 4 time horizons. These guide the activities set out in this roadmap.
  • The RPAS and AAM Strategic Regulatory Roadmap Acronyms
    This is a list of all the acronyms found in the roadmap.
Online version available at: https://www.casa.gov.au//resources-and-education/publications-and-resources/corporate-publications/rpas-and-aam-strategic-regulatory-roadmap
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