Our recent online poll revealed that the majority (71%) believe that seafarers will not be able to trust an autonomous system. Additionally, our Sea Sense column – in association with the North P&I Club – has asked global experts to provide their perspectives.
Terms ‘remote-controlled’, ‘unmanned’, ‘automated’ and ‘autonomous’ have all been used when describing the new technology, but they all mean very different things. It is very possible that, in the future, vessels could be remote-controlled but still retain some onboard manning. Or perhaps they will be traditionally manned, where autonomous systems are used as a decision support tool.
