The concept of sustainable transportation and unmanned railway technologies: the EAEU experience

Abstract

The article attempts to critically assess the current regulatory framework in the field of unmanned technologies through the prism of the concept of sustainable transportation in the EAEU. The main trends in the development of unmanned technologies in transportation are identified. Using the example of the Russian railway transportation, the key technical and technological aspects of the operation of unmanned systems, which need a primary mechanism of regulation, are shown. The study shows that the effectiveness of high-level automation technologies directly depends on adequate normative and technical regulation and legal basis for ensuring safety issues and regulating responsibility at the interstate level. The authors consider it advisable to apply a test procedure for the use of unmanned technologies at the initial stage of operation, as well as to create “regulatory sandboxes” before the mass operation of unmanned vehicles. The development of international legal regulation of unmanned transport will become a driver for the realization of Russia’s transit potential, especially in the context of de-globalization trends in the world economy and anti-Russian sanctions.