The Civil Aviation Safety Authority regulations refer to drones as Remotely Piloted Aircraft [Civil Aviation Safety Regulations 1998 (Cth)].
A drone is an unmanned aerial vehicle, remotely piloted aircraft, rocket powered unmanned aircraft, Quadcopter, or robot.
Remotely Piloted Aircraft can be flown by remote control or they can fly autonomously (independently) through software-controlled flight plans in their computer systems.