Law and Infrastructure: Reliability, Automation Transition, and Irregularities of “U‐Space”

IF 3.2 2区社会学 Q1 LAW

Regulation & Governance Pub Date : 2025-06-19 DOI:10.1111/rego.70046

Samar Abbas Nawaz

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Abstract

The European Union (EU) is making regulatory efforts to allow for the safe integration of drones into civilian airspace through automated means. Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/664 concerning unmanned traffic management (a system referred to as “U‐Space”) furthers that commitment. Accordingly, drone operators must avail themselves of automatic traffic‐related “U‐Space services” concerning flight authorization, geo awareness, traffic information, and network identification before entering U‐Space airspace. Using infrastructural analysis, as proposed within Science and Technology Studies (STS), this article shows that while automation is meant to ensure safe traffic, it could also challenge U‐Space safety in at least three ways: by inviting reliability concerns for U‐Space infrastructure; because of the transition from human‐centric to automation‐centric systems; and by being subject to irregularities within the EU's framework. An infrastructural analysis, therefore, helps in unveiling important factors which influence the safety of automated technologies and in critically discussing the role of law in their regulation.

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法律与基础设施：可靠性、自动化转型和“U - Space”的不规则性

欧盟（EU）正在做出监管努力，允许无人机通过自动化手段安全融入民用空域。关于无人驾驶交通管理（称为“U - Space”系统）的欧盟委员会实施条例（EU） 2021/664进一步加强了这一承诺。因此，无人机运营商在进入U - Space空域之前，必须利用与交通相关的自动“U - Space服务”，包括飞行授权、地理感知、交通信息和网络识别。根据科学与技术研究（STS）中提出的基础设施分析，本文表明，虽然自动化旨在确保交通安全，但它也可能在至少三个方面挑战U - Space的安全性：引起对U - Space基础设施可靠性的担忧；由于从以人为中心的系统向以自动化为中心的系统的转变；并受制于欧盟框架内的违规行为。因此，基础设施分析有助于揭示影响自动化技术安全性的重要因素，并有助于批判性地讨论法律在其监管中的作用。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Regulation & Governance Multiple-

CiteScore

7.80

自引率

10.00%

发文量

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