Steinar Låg

Steinar is a principal approval engineer with the digital ship systems section in maritime class at DNV in Oslo. He holds an MSc in electronics/telecommunication from NTNU Trondheim and worked for 13 years in the satellite communications industry (Nera, Telenor, Inmarsat) before joining DNV in 2006. During his 18 years at DNV, he has held several positions covering a wide range of topics ranging from ultrasound data analysis, maritime data standards and safety communications (GMDSS) to R&D within space, connectivity and autonomy. He is currently working on projects and rule development for autonomous and remotely operated ships.

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Presentation

Making autonomous ships safe – DNV’s approach

DNV has developed a qualification process for autonomous and remotely operated vessels and systems to ensure an equivalent level of safety as for conventional vessels. This is applied in the new DNV AROS class notations. As the novel technologies and concepts create new and different risks, DNV employs a risk-based verification process, considering human factors and remote operations centers among other aspects, including new verification methods. As technologies mature and experience is gathered, rules and standards will develop and become more detailed and specific. Going forward, collaboration across the maritime industry is essential to achieve the safety objectives for autonomous ships.