Emergency preparedness on autonomous passenger ferries & ROCs (EMERGE)

The EMERGE project aims to improve emergency preparedness on autonomous passenger ferries and remote operation centres, namely man overboard, evacuation and loss of communication, from three main perspectives: the ROC perspective, the on-board perspective and the rescue network perspective. This is crucial to ensure the safe operation and acceptance of autonomous vessels (MASS) monitored from remote operations centres (ROC). The goal is to map current emergency procedures, define safety challenges and adapt procedures for autonomous ferries and for interactions between the MASS/ROC system. The project will contribute recommendations for specific training, design of onboard and ROC systems, and rescue organisations, and develop and test prototypes for safety solutions. User-centred design (UCD) will be used to explore requirements and solutions for information sharing, usability and training. The results will improve safety and guide future research.

RISE coordinates the project and is a research partner. Ship operator Torghatten contributes with its concepts and demonstrators. A reference group also contributes to the project.