The General Directorate of the Merchant Marine (DGMM), under the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda of the Government of Spain, organized at the headquarters of the Center for Studies and Experimentation of Public Works (CEDEX) in Madrid the II Technical Conference on Autonomous Ships, with the main objective to disseminate the activities that the different members at the national level in Spain are carrying out in this sector.
In 2017, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) began a scoping exercise of all the regulations that could be affected by this new way of maritime navigation, which concluded in May 2021 and addresses the complex task of finding a way to modify them to guarantee that autonomous ships can coexist with those manned in a safe and sustainable way.
Since the creation of the National Working Group on Autonomous Ships in 2020, several companies, associations, institutions and organizations have exchanged opinions and information through regular work sessions, with the aim to set up a national network on this matter. Thus, the conference was aimed at any person or institution interested in learning about ongoing projects and their development, the possible applications of autonomous ships, their interaction with traditional uses of the sea and their national and international regulatory development.
Specifically, PLOCAN contributed to the event by showcasing developments and capabilities in USV technologies for efficient and sustainable marine observation, drawing on experience gained through the Mission Atlantic, GROOM-II, EuroSea, TechOceans and PERSEO projects, among others. It also presented experience from the ECUVE project, as the first Spanish vessel to be registered as autonomous, as well as upcoming activities stemming from the UBAS (Ports 4.0) project.
The conference had six thematic sessions, allowing to address topics as diverse and relevant as the current perspective of the regulatory development of autonomous ships, the modernization of maritime legislation, the contribution of the International Maritime Committee, the procedure of flagging and certification of unmanned vessels in Spain, the IALA guidelines in the development and implications of autonomous surface ships (MASS), new generation advanced VTMIS systems, challenges and opportunities for pilots in autonomous ships, 5.0 collision avoidance algorithms in autonomous ships, civil and defense applications of unmanned ships, classification societies and the autonomous ship, unmanned ships and cybersecurity, among others.
Autonomous maritime navigation is one of the new paradigms facing the sector, with global repercussions for the rest of linked socio-economic sectors.
