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ACT Autonomous Surface Vehicle Workshop Report
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respond appropriately mature enough that operation by an autonomous vessel in a
busy harbor might be possible safely and with little operator supervision.
Summary on Autonomy
With five levels of autonomy clearly defined among three categories of Self-awareness,
Operations and Sensor payloads, engineers may more clearly define design goals,
manufacturers may more clearly communicate capabilities, customers may more clearly
describe requirements and operators may more systematically assess risk. The levels
provide a common language between us and while any given vehicle’s capabilities will
be a blend of levels, having defined the levels makes the strengths and weaknesses of
any vessel more clear. These levels, when considered with respect to the three levels of
operator supervision, allow an operator to better assess the impact of the loss of any
one sensor or routine and to devise methods to mitigate the risk associated with the
loss, whether by compensating with other systems to meet the same level of autonomy
or by increasing the level of supervision appropriately (Schmidt, 2015).
Workshop Recommendations
Collectively acknowledging that ASV development has lagged behind underwater autonomous
vehicle development, the workshop participants made the following recommendations for
continuing the improvement of ASV use and operation and assessing user needs in both the
short and long term. The goal of the recommendations below is to further develop these
technologies in order to meet needed requirements and opportunities. It is further recognized
that user criteria for particular parameters/operational scenarios may vary depending on use,
region, environment, and technology costs.
The workshop participants recommend that ASV researchers, vendors and manufacturers:
1.
Continue development of base, open source systems for broader use and greater
adoption. Provide necessary sensor documentation for proprietary systems to allow for
customization, flexibility and integration into ASV platforms.
2.
Establish an ASV Technical Committee to advise future development towards
recommendation 5 and encourage ASV developers and users to follow the guidelines
established in other developed resources including:
a)
Unmanned Systems Integrated Roadmap FY2013 – 2036
(U.S. Department of
Defense, 2013)
b)
Autonomy Levels for Unmanned Systems, resource Website (NIST, 2010)
c)
Legal Research Digest 69: A Look at the Legal Environment for Driverless Vehicles
(Glancy D., Peterson R. W., and Graham, K.F., February 2016)
d)
Mainstreaming Unmanned Undersea Vehicles into Future U.S. Naval Operations
(Navel Studies Board, 2016)