Responsibly regulating the civilian unmanned aerial vehicle deployment in India and Japan
Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology
ISSN: 0002-2667
Article publication date: 9 April 2021
Issue publication date: 7 July 2021
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the paper is to describe the evolving regulatory structures of the civilian unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in India and Japan, not yet fully developed to regulate the deployment of the UAV. India and Japan are at the forefront to overhaul the respective regulatory framework to address issues of accountability, responsibility and risks associated with the deployment of UAV technologies.
Design/methodology/approach
In-depth interviews are conducted both in Japan and India to gather primary data based on the snowball sampling method. The paper addresses questions such as what is the current scenario of civilian UAV deployment in India and Japan. What are the regulation structures for Civil UAV deployment and operation and how they differ in India and Japan? What are the key regulatory challenges for Civil UAV deployment in India? How regulation structure enables or inhibits the users and operators of Civil UAVs in India? What are mutual learnings concerning UAV regulations?
Findings
Findings reveal that the Indian regulations address issues of responsibility by imparting values of privacy, safety, autonomy and security; Japanese regulation prefers values of trust, responsibility, safety and ownership with more freedom to experiment.
Originality/value
The study on civilian UAV regulatory framework is a new and innovative work embedded by the dimensions of responsibility and accountability from a responsible innovation perspective. The work is a new contribution to innovation literature looked at from regulatory structures. Field visits to both Japan and India enrich the study to a new elevation.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to Dr Ram Avtar, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Environmental Earth Science, Hokkaido University, Japan, for providing all the necessary facilities to carry out one month of research work in Japan.
Citation
Chamuah, A. and Singh, R. (2021), "Responsibly regulating the civilian unmanned aerial vehicle deployment in India and Japan", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 93 No. 4, pp. 629-641. https://doi.org/10.1108/AEAT-08-2019-0172
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited