October 2018

Development of Guidelines for Autonomous Ships

05 October, 2018

Kwak Yeon-min (Technology Planning Team), Lee Yong-woo/ Yoo Byong-rang(Machinery Rule Development Te

1. IMO trends

The regulatory work for the introduction of MASS (Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships) was discussed in MSC 98/23, MSC 98/20/2 and MSC 98/20/13. At the 98th MSC meeting held in June 2017, MASS was adopted as the official agenda and the decision was made to review the discussion directions and work plans for the next two years.

2. Guidelines of other certification bodies

The guidelines for autonomous ships (or unmanned ships) of other certification bodies are shown in table 1.

Table 1. Guidelines for autonomous ships (or unmanned ships) of other certification bodies

Class	Guidelines	Date of enactment
DNV GL	Autonomous and remotely operated ships (DNVGL-CG-0264)	2018.09
LR	Cyber Enabled Ships, ShipRight procedure - Autonomous Ships	2016.07
	Design code for unmanned marine systems	2017.02
	Cyber Enabled Ships, ShipRight procedure assignment for cyber descriptive notes for autonomous & remote access ships	2017.12
BV	Guidelines for Autonomous Shipping (Guidance Note NI641)	2017.12
NK	Guidelines for Concept Design of Automated Operation / Autonomous Operation of Ships (Provisional Version)	2018.05
CCS	Rules for intelligent ships	2016.03

3. Development of Guidelines for Autonomous Ships

KR is participating in a national research project, ‘Infrastructure technology for highly reliable operation of USVs at sea’ (2015~2018). By carrying out this project, we have identified the legislative / amendment requirements of national rules for the operation of unmanned ships, proposed operational guidelines, and reviewed the type approval procedures. Based on the results of the project, the Technical Planning Team and Machinery Rule Development Team have been working to develop guidelines for autonomous ships and will publish the first draft in December 2018.

The table of contents (draft) for the ‘Guidelines for autonomous ships’ is proposed to be as follows.

Chapter 1 General
       Section 1 General
       Section 2 Operation plan
       Section 3 Cybersecurity

Chapter 2 Autonomous systems and autonomous ships
       Section 1 General configuration and functions of autonomous systems
       Section 2 General requirements of autonomous systems & ships
       Section 3 Approval procedures of autonomous systems & ships

Chapter 3 Risk-based approval
       Section 1 General
       Section 2 Considerations when approving risk-based designs
       Section 3 Measures to reduce risks

In this guide, the general configuration of autonomous systems is presented (Figure 1), and each of the system functions and basic requirements are listed. The autonomy is defined as five levels (Table 2), and the systems required for autonomous ships with respect to each autonomy level are presented (Figure 2). The approval procedures for autonomous systems and ships and the main considerations when approving risk-based designs are also presented.

Figure 1. General configuration of autonomous systems

Table 2. Autonomy levels

Autonomy levels	Data acquisition / analysis	Decision-making	Implementation
AL 1	Operator / System	Operator	Operator
AL 2	System	Operator / System(1)	Operator
AL 3	System	Operator(2) / System	System
AL 4	System	System(3)	System(3)
AL 5	System	System	System
(Note) (1)Systems support decision making. (2)For decision making, operator’s confirmation is required. (3)Information about decision making and implementation is always provided to the operator.

AL 1

Data acquisition/analysis

Decision-making

Implementation

Operator / System

Operator

· A ship with a system that collects data from multiple sources and integrates/analyzes them

to provide operators with results that can help them make operational decisions.

AL 2

Data acquisition/analysis

Decision-making

Implementation

System

Operator / System

Operator

·ship equipped with a system for making navigational decisions in normal situations

(Operators are responsible for the implementation.)
· No decision authorization is given to the system for abnormal situations

(Give warning messages to operators.)

AL 3

Data acquisition/analysis

Decision-making

Implementation

System

Operator / System

System

· A ship capable of autonomous navigation under normal situations (However, operator’s

confirmation for the decision is required, and if the operator’s confirmation is not preceded,

the decision is withdrawn.)

· Functions to support decision making and implementation under abnormal situations may

be included. (In this case, as with normal situations, operator’s confirmation is required for

the decision, and if the operator’s confirmation is not preceded, the decision is withdrawn.)

AL 4

Data acquisition/analysis

Decision-making

Implementation

System

System (Operator monitoring)

· A ship with redundant configurations for system failure and being capable of autonomous

navigation in normal and abnormal situations (Operator monitors all decision making and

implementation information of the system.)

· Considering the system autonomy level, boarding seafarers are not needed, but minimum

number of persons for monitoring / control can be boarded if there is no adequate

communication system to ‘monitor all decision and implementation information for normal

and abnormal situations’ and ‘support remote control in case of necessity’. (In case of

unmanned operation with communication system and off-board support system, proper

communication networks between 'autonomous ship & off-board support system',

'autonomous ship & other ships / coast stations’ and ‘off-board support system & other

ships / coast stations' are required.)

AL 5

Data acquisition/analysis

Decision-making

Implementation

System

· A ship with redundant configurations for system failure and being capable of autonomous

navigation in normal and abnormal situations

· No boarding seafarers required (Operators in the off-board support system monitor the

emergency situation)
· Proper communication networks between 'autonomous ship & off-board support system',

'autonomous ship & other ships / coast stations’ and ‘off-board support system & other

ships / coast stations' are required.

Figure 2. The systems required for autonomous ships with respect to each autonomy level (draft)

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