MASS - here we come, ready or not?

摘要

Some very interesting presentations and discussions during The Nautical Institute's Seminar and AGM in Malta and several good publications in Seaways have inspired me to put down some of my own thoughts on the subject, based on my own experience on testing autonomous software and hardware on board. Of course, there are more questions than answers at the moment, but hopefully it is worth asking them. The first question is: does this problem really merit our attention right now? It seems as if we have plenty of time before the first totally autonomous ship comes over the horizon. In the meantime there are many more immediate issues to deal with: fatigue, human element, climate change, and so on. Is it absolutely necessary to discuss unmanned ships now? Experience shows that manufacturers are always ahead of industry, dictating their own rules and procedures (just look at ECDIS, where several of the technologies are anything but not user friendly, but we still have to use them and train our officers in their use, creating a giant opportunity for mistakes). Right now, we have the very rare opportunity to tell manufacturers to create their robots according to certain rules. And we can take part in developing these rules! This is the main reason for the NI to take part in these discussions. For once, we have the opportunity to write the rules, not just to play catch up after the event.