ABSTRACT
The concept of Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS) is presently in its infancy, with independent research and development efforts currently underway and test beds and prototype systems being developed but with little crossover in terms of knowledge and results sharing. This chapter attempts to identify some of the issues that must be considered before MASS may be deemed sufficiently mature to enter mainstream of the maritime industry. Methods must be created to ensure that the reasoning systems used on MASS can be validated using empirical methods that take advantage of the huge volumes of data expected to be generated and that the results obtained are predictable and traceable. New propulsion technologies and fuels are being actively sought for use by MASS, with many claims of potential reduced emissions being made. At a maritime conference the topic of MASS and smart ports came up in the discussion to effect that a “smart ship can do very little in a dumb port”.
