IMO moves on autonomous vessels

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has started work to examine how maritime autonomous surface ships (MASS) operations relating to safety, security and the environment may be addressed in IMO instruments. The IMO’s Maritime Safety Committee (MSC), endorsed a framework for a regulatory scoping exercise, as a work in progress, including preliminary definitions of MASS and degrees of autonomy, as well as a methodology for conducting the exercise and a plan of work.