Parrot, active participant in French Drone regulation

With the growth of the drone industry, and the access for all to smaller and more efficient drones, safety and security continue to be a major concern for all stakeholders in the industry. Both the design and the use of drones are governed by new regulations.

In order to implement these new standards, Parrot is actively working with French authorities and regulators to ensure a consistent transition for everyone, including users. Parrot guarantees all its users the highest level of privacy and security protection by being in full compliance with the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

"Parrot ensures the cybersecurity of its drones and protects the data they capture by preserving the privacy of each user. Only data that the user agrees to share with Parrot is collected,” said Victor Vuillard, Chief Security Officer for Parrot. “As an open source drone company, the implementation of the remote electronic identification system is essential to help civil security services improve security, the serene sharing of airspace, and the social acceptance of drones, while being transparent with our users".

The Ministries of the Interior, Economy and Finance, Ecological Transition and Transport have published an order (order of 27th of December 2019 defining the technical characteristics of electronic and luminous identification systems for aircraft operating without a person on board), which comes into effect on the 29th of June 2020 and which requires drones weighing more than 800g to have an electronic identification system (plus a luminous identification system for night flying drones).

An electronic identification system meeting the regulatory requirements has been implemented on the Parrot Bluegrass and Bluegrass Fields drones via a simple and free software update. This update was made available to users beginning July 2020. The drone locally and automatically broadcasts its electronic identification message via the existing Wi-Fi system (Beacon Wi-Fi).

To provide the best possible assistance to civil security and to promote the visibility of drones in the airspace, Parrot has decided to offer the same electronic identification feature throughout its ANAFI range (ANAFI, ANAFI Thermal, ANAFI USA). The installation process will be the same as Bluegrass and Bluegrass Fields, a simple and free software update, with the possibility for the user to activate or deactivate the feature manually via the FreeFlight 6 interface. As the ANAFI range being below the regulatory threshold of 800g, the DRI function is deactivated by default.