Preliminary Results of a System-theoretic Assessment of Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships’ Safety

ABSTRACT: While a system-theoretic approach to the safety analysis of innovative socio-technical systems gains a growing acceptance among academia, safety issues of Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS) remain largely unexplored. Therefore, we applied a System-Theoretic Process Analysis to develop and analyze a preliminary model of the unmanned shipping system in order to elaborate safety recommendations for future developers of the actual system. Results indicate that certain advancements shall be undertaken in relation to MASS’ software solutions in particular.

KEYWORDS: Safety at Sea, Autonomous Ship, MUNIN Project, Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS), Unmanned Shipping System, System-Theoretic Process Analysis (STPA), Advanced Autonomous Waterborne Application (AAWA), System-Theoretic Accident Model and Process (STAMP)

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Citation note:

Wróbel K., Krata P., Montewka J.: Preliminary Results of a System-theoretic Assessment of Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships’ Safety. TransNav, the International Journal on Marine Navigation and Safety of Sea Transportation, Vol. 13, No. 4, doi:10.12716/1001.13.04.03, pp. 717-723, 2019

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