COLREG and MASS: Analytical review to identify research trends and gaps in the Development of Autonomous Collision Avoidance

Abstract

Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS) face regulatory challenges, with some suggesting that the existing Collision Regulations (COLREG) present linguistic barriers for autonomous vessels' development and implementation. While academic research has focused on developing autonomous collision avoidance (CA), it is producing inconsistent results compared to conventional navigation practices. This study aims to identify trends and weaknesses in recent studies on CA for MASS by conducting a systematic review and analysis of the most relevant literature. The Conventional-Collision-Avoidance-Process (CCAP), which benchmarks manned modern ships' capacity for CA compliance under COLREG and industry requirements, is used to break down a ship's collision avoidance process into 53 CA functions under eight main categories. A total of 32 papers were chosen through filtering based on keywords, publication period, language, and relevance. The content of the recent academic literature was then grouped under appropriate CCAP codes. Statistical and graphical interpretations were generated using the collected literature content data and evaluated statistics of the existing digital contribution of CCAP. The study uncovers significant trends, inconsistencies, and weaknesses that could guide future academic research towards comprehensive CA solutions for MASS.