Public consultation
Draft Australian Code of Practice for the Design, Construction, Survey, and Operation for Autonomous & Remotely Operated Vessels
The capacity and availability of autonomous and remotely operated vessels is rapidly accelerating in Australia.
These systems need to be trusted by government, regulators, operators, and the broader community. An integral part of gaining trust is having consistent assurance requirements, and a clear, tailored regulatory framework.
TAS has been working to develop a framework – the Australian Code of Practice for the Design, Construction, Survey and Operation of Autonomous and Remotely Operated Vessels – with support from Maaike Vanderkooi of Vanderkooi Consulting.
We are now inviting stakeholder feedback on the draft Code of Practice. This will enable refinement of the Code to ensure it is practical and useful.
The draft Australian Code of Practice
The draft Code of Practice applies to domestic commercial vessels but is intended to be instructive for regulated Australian vessels.
Development was informed by an analysis of existing, publicly available codes and guidelines for autonomous and remotely operated vessels and significant stakeholder engagement.
Download:
- Draft Code of Practice (File size: 1.2MB),
- Explanatory Material (File size: 600KB), and
- Annex A: COLREGS framework (File size: 382 KB; File updated: November 26, 2021).
Who is this consultation for?
Stakeholders involved in the Australian autonomous vessel ecosystem, including: designers, manufacturers, surveyors/third party consultants, operators, customers, regulators, and researchers.
What will happen after public consultation closes?
After public consultation closes, all feedback will be reviewed. TAS will prepare a Consultation Feedback Report and an updated Australian Code of Practice along with finalised Guidance Materials. These documents will be released on the TAS website in February 2022.