Investigation of Statutory and Class Society Based Requirements for Electronic Lookout

Novel advanced systems, employing information and communication technology, are emerging. An example of such a system is the electronic lookout (e-lookout), which functions as the visual lookout performed by humans on ships. In this paper, we investigated what types of requirements may arise for e-lookout based on an analysis of statutory documents and existing class society guidelines for autonomous ships. To this end, first, we identified elookout functions based on a functional breakdown, considering both existing maritime function classifications as well as experts’ opinion. Second, we investigated the class society guidelines for autonomous ships concerning elookout and the applicability of existing regulatory requirements for conventional human lookout including those specified by STCW, COLREGS, and SOLAS. Considering the existing regulatory requirements for lookout, we proposed alternative equivalent requirements for e-lookout. Specifically, based on the analysis, we specified seventeen novel requirements for functionality, reliability, availability, maintainability, and safety. It is expected that the analysis implemented, and methodology presented will support the development of an appropriate regulatory framework for e-lookout and autonomous ships.