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Autonomous Ships and the Law


Page 85

Chapter 6

Unmanned ships and fault as the basis of shipowner’s liability

Felix Collin1

1 Introduction

It was a dark and stormy night, when the remote connection between an unmanned ship and the remote control center was suddenly lost. Although the vessel had been designed to survive under difficult conditions, navigating autonomously to a safe location proved to be too difficult. At a critical moment, the vessel changed course, causing it to collide with a passenger ship, whose crew had not enough time to react to the other vessel’s sudden change of course. Hundreds of people lost their lives, and the damage caused to property was massive.

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