Government-Industry Workshop on Expanding Autonomous Vessel Demonstration

The opportunity

To sustain competitiveness, U.S. vessel operators are assessing digitalization options, driven by the need for higher throughput, improved safety, and lower environmental impact. Remote and autonomous technologies—ranging from workforce augmentation to uncrewed operational tasks—are becoming central to future vessel operations. Despite the promise of increased efficiency, there are significant developmental needs in the technological, operational and regulatory dimensions. For the latter, while the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has conducted a Regulatory Scoping Exercise and developed Interim Guidelines for MASS (Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships) Trials, significant gaps remain, including the development of requirements for Remote Control Stations, vessel alarms and indicators and transition between seafarer and automated controls. On the domestic front, work is needed as well, including potential statutory and regulatory changes (see, e.g., GAO report Coast Guard: Autonomous Ships and Efforts to Regulate Them).

This project seeks to identify and evaluate impediments to remote/autonomous vessel operations as well as potential demonstration projects to address those impediments. The project is comprised of two components: a MASS Code component and a general impediment component.

The MASS Code component (Tasks 1 - 4 in the Scope of Work) will be conducted by Secretariat—an invitation to participate in a workshop for this component will be issued at a later date. In preparing proposals for Tasks 5 - 8 of the Scope of Work, submitters should take into consideration the Secretariat work in Tasks 1 - 4. Tasks 5 - 8 involve the identification and evaluation of general impediments to autonomous vessels, as well as potential efforts to advance their operations. USCMI seeks partners to assist with the data collection and analysis for this general impediment component.

USCMI also seeks participants for stakeholder review of research and analysis on all impediments (as part of the second component). The 12-month project will conclude with a final report and an executive briefing.

This is a funded project, and participants may receive funding based on role and level of effort. The project budget includes up to $100K for analysis support. Stakeholder reviews are unfunded. USCMI funding is prioritized for domestic entities as recipients or subrecipients.

Participant roles