Page 17: of Marine News Magazine (June 2023)

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Column

Autonomous Vessels 1549 if Captain Sully had not used his experience and the plane had been guided purely by AI?

In the 1950s, the authors Isaac

Asimov and Ray Bradbury pondered

AI. Bradbury, in The Martian Chron- icles, described a planet where daily life continued without humans in an

AI world. Asimov, in iRobot, con- fronted the problems and challenges of creating robots to perform danger- ous tasks while safely interacting with humans. What, then, are the role and future of USV and MASS? Technol- ogy is not new in assisting humans.

Arti? cial intelligence in completely supplanting human judgment is new.

However, we are not there, yet.

What is an “autonomous vessel”? 1 U.S.C. 3 describes vessels as “any- thing that ? oats.” Autonomous can mean “on its own” or “semi-autono- mous” with assistance. This includes everything from drones to vessels with autopilot and critical warning systems. We are an automated soci- ety seeking to fully automate vessels, while maintaining ultimate control and determining how to regulate fully automated and/or remote-controlled vessels. Regulatory change and guide- lines are being discussed.

Military applications are here

Autonomous vessels are in use by various militaries. On May 25, 2023, the Israeli Aerospace Industries launched The Blue Whale, an autono- mous underwater vehicle (AUV). It will be used for naval intelligence and to identify the presence of mines at sea.

Australia has recently announced www.marinelink.com MN 17|

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