Ghost Fleet Overlord And COLREG Impacts

[zstine]

With the Navy's "Ghost Fleet Overlord" sailing large unmanned ships around the oceans, I wonder how that doesn't violate the COLREGs? As we know, Military technology filters down to the public and many solo sails must be interested in this tech as there's been many discussion about solo sailors sleeping and compliance to rule 5. But if the boat has systems on-board "to maintain a proper lookout by sight and hearing" then we can all sleep safe and sound, right!? haha...

What is a "proper lookout" in 2021? AIS, Radar and some fancy FLIR camera system, satellite imagery? This begs the question. Does a 'proper lookout' need to be Human at all???

for Reference
COLREG Rule 5 states: Every vessel shall at all times maintain a proper lookout by sight and hearing as well as by all available means appropriate to the prevailing circumstances and conditions so as to make a full appraisal of the situation and of the risk of collision.

[requiem]

I really don't see any requirement that a human be the one maintaining the lookout. An autonomous vessel would probably be more in compliance with this than one that simply monitors and tries to wake the onboard wetware.

My take on AI is that it needn't be perfect, it simply has to be better than the humans, and sometimes that's a pretty low bar.

[GreenWave]

Also, much like drones that fly, these unmanned vessels likely have 24/7 human overwatch involved, on top of the AI. The Navy isn't just going to wind up the crank and set ships loose in the Ocean.

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by requiem

I really don't see any requirement that a human be the one maintaining the lookout. An autonomous vessel would probably be more in compliance with this than one that simply monitors and tries to wake the onboard wetware.

My take on AI is that it needn't be perfect, it simply has to be better than the humans, and sometimes that's a pretty low bar.

AIS will pay better attention but it will be decades before their recognition can match humans.

[John_Trusty]

I'd love some of that tech that maintains a watch so I could catch some z's. Colregs be damned, that fancy tech has got to be better than any old sailor after 24-hours awake trying to catch 20 minutes shut-eye while crossing some channel. Unfortunately, my sailing budget is no where near the military, so it will be a while before that "trickles down" to my boat.

[requiem]

Looks like there's decent progress in this area: https://www.maritime-executive.com/a...es-effectively

[zstine]

Originally Posted by requiem

...
My take on AI is that it needn't be perfect, it simply has to be better than the humans, and sometimes that's a pretty low bar.

Haha, yes our Navy has set the bar low. We crash billion dollar boats practically every year!