Erik Veitch

Autonomous urban passenger ferries have the potential to enhance urban mobility. However, despite advances in recent years, operating autonomous surface vehicles (ASVs) in urban waterways remain challenging, not least because transporting passengers raises safety standards to the fore. This paper presents the autonomous urban passenger ferry “milliAmpere2,” developed by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, Norway. Design features and test results are presented, covering the investigation of five research questions related to human-centered design, batteries and propulsion, autonomous navigation and control, remote monitoring and control, and risk assessment. A three-week public trial of the “milliAmpere2,” held in 2022, helped to synthesize research outcomes in the context of its operational environment in a confined and well-trafficked urban waterway. The “milliAmpere2” project adds to a growing number of use cases demonstrating the viability of ASVs for passenger transportation. Outstanding challenges for future research are identified, including human-autonomy teaming, remote management of fleet operation, and interactions with passengers, traffic, and remote operators.

Ice management is essential for maintaining the safety of offshore operations in Arctic regions. We present the combined results of three experiments conducted in a full-mission bridge simulator specially designed for ice management. From a quantitative analysis of the results, we infer the effect of three variables on performance: (1) experience, (2) training, and (3) Decision Support System (DSS). The results confirm that experience and training improve performance for untrained and inexperienced simulator participants. The DSS also improves performance, but with a smaller effect. Qualitative observations using vessel position heat-map diagrams and exit interviews suggested that novice participants using the DSS adopted expert strategies but carried out their tasks more slowly and with less precision. This has important consequences for the design of a future DSS used in training simulators or onboard ships. Potential improvements to the DSS design might include real-time feedback to the user, a redesign of the human–machine interface (HMI), and increasing user input and customization with a human factors focus.

When focused on a task, unexpected visual stimuli can go by unnoticed. Inattentional blindness may be problematic for supervisory controllers of autonomous vessels, because this role specifically relies on identifying unexpected stimuli in case intervention is needed. In a simulation-based experiment (n=32), we show that 50% of participants did not perceive an unexpected visual stimulus (a gorilla passenger) when assigned the task of supervisory controller for an autonomous ferry. Additionally, eye-tracking showed that 12 of the 16 players who did not report the gorilla in fact gazed directly at it. Results also showed no correlation to skillset (gamer or navigator) nor to vigilance (5- or 30-minute scenarios); they did, however, show positive correlation to multitasking (1 or 3 supervised vessels). We discuss implications for designing work tasks for supervisory control of remotely operated and autonomous vessels.

Autonomous ships require efficient remote monitoring and human control intervention to ensure safety. However, there are knowledge gaps concerning human factors influences on remote supervisory control. We investigate the influence of five factors on remote supervisory control using a simulator experiment: (i) Skill, represented by either experienced navigators or gamers; (ii) Vigilance, manipulated by either 5 or 30 minutes in passive monitoring; (iii) Multitasking, represented by either 1 or 3 supervised vessels; (iv) Time Pressure, represented by 20- or 60-second critical time windows; (v) Decision Support, represented by presence or absence of a Decision Support System (DSS). The experiment was a randomized factorial design (n = 32) where volunteers completed a handover (automation detects a critical event and hands over control) and a takeover (operator detects a critical event and takes over control). We observed the following results: (i) Skill influenced performance when combined with Multitasking and Decision Support, favoring gamers; (ii) Vigilance influenced performance when combined with Time Pressure; (iii) Multitasking influenced performance directly, as did (iv) Time Pressure and (v) Decision Support. These outcomes contribute to the empirical basis of maritime human factors research and to safer design of autonomous vessels and their remote control centers.