Autonomous maritime operations and the influence of situational awareness within maritime navigation

Abstract

As the maritime industry looks to implement autonomous operations, it is key that seafarers can adjust and work alongside the technological strides being made. With the maritime industry being on the brink of a paradigm shift, not seen since the transition from sails to engines, regulations and training need to be implemented before the industry can progress towards autonomous vessel operations. Therefore, the maritime industry must implement methods and training regimes that seafarers can undertake to train skills such as situational awareness, to ensure that the human-automation relationship progresses smoothly and efficiently. The research reported within this paper aims to assess the elements required to aid the development of seafarers, in preparation for the inevitable change to autonomous maritime operations. A study was conducted which analysed the situational awareness of 14 junior navigational officers and 14 navigational officer cadets, by means of a bridge watch simulator and introducing the participants to an autopilot failure. The results of the study found a lack of system understanding, in the event of a fault, among the majority of participants. Additionally, even the participants displaying a satisfactory level of situational awareness required alarms before they could recognise a potential fault. Additionally, participants were given a survey which allowed the assessment of their personal views and opinions of autonomous operations. By assessing the outcome of this study and researching past maritime incidents, this paper has highlighted the necessity for situational awareness training for seafarers which will improve the human automation relationship.