Navigators’ views of a collision avoidance decision support system for maritime navigation

Abstract

Maritime navigation is a complex task involving the acquisition, analysis, and interpretation of information using seamanship, professional knowledge, and technology. As the maritime industry transitions towards maritime autonomous surface ships (MASS), there is an increasing gap between the operator and the technology. This paper explores a collision avoidance decision support system for navigation from the navigator's perspective. The system, developed by Wärtsilä, is called Advanced Intelligent Manoeuvring (AIM) and can generate suggestions for course or speed alterations based on data from surrounding traffic. Nineteen Swedish navigators completed three ship traffic scenarios with and without decision support. Qualitative data were collected using interviews and analysed with thematic analysis. The results show that the participants perceive the decision support system as an advisory tool to visualise how traffic situations could unfold, a task currently difficult for most navigators. This paper discusses the present and near future of maritime navigation, highlighting the benefits of automation, while remaining vigilant about the potential dangers.

A collaborative collision avoidance strategy for autonomous ships under mixed scenarios

“…Under a real collision avoidance process, OOWs usually use a very high frequency (VHF) radio to confirm each other's intentions and coordinate evasive actions (Szlapczynski and Szlapczynska, 2016). The lack of human involvement on the bridge of an autonomous ship creates challenges for the coordination of collision avoidance actions (Aylward et al., 2022; Zhang et al., 2022a).…”

Towards an approach to define transparency requirements for maritime collision avoidance

“…As collision avoidance is a complex and multi-faceted aspect of navigation, solving this problem is critical to realizing autonomous shipping. Consequently, autonomous collision avoidance has received much focus in recent years (Aylward et al, 2022; Miyoshi et al, 2022; Ramos et al, 2019).…”