Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what legal autonomous operation of aircraft is allowed during which a remotely piloted aircraft is operated without pilot intervention in the management of the flight.
The Civil Aviation Authority’s (CAA) policy regarding autonomy in relation to unmanned aircraft is contained in its unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) guidance document, CAP722 (www.caa.co.uk/cap722). To date, the CAA has not received any applications to conduct autonomous UAS operations. Any application received would be extensively investigated and assessed to assure safety before any permissions to fly are issued.