The enigmatic juridical regime of unmanned maritime systems

The growing use of robotics in the maritime domain is about to pose questions on legal fallouts of autonomous systems to the international community. Unmanned maritime systems (UMS) such as autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) are being increasingly employed for environmental and scientific studies. Applications of not weaponized robotic platforms for maritime security, littoral protection, antisubmarine warfare, and mine countermeasures are being investigated quite successfully both by civilian and military bodies. And more capabilities are expected to be developed for the archaeological surveys and Search And Rescue (SAR) operations. These growing spread and interest are due to the fact that, among the new maritime technologies, UMS are some of the most energy-efficient ones since they are usually equipped with small engines or they can even fly in the water without any propulsion but just using waves and currents as for example gliders do. Nevertheless the regulatory framework is lying far away from the technological fast advancement. Current experimental operations are forced to be always conducted under special authorisations and area clearances. But what is stopping the authorities to rule the use of these tools? The fact is that the issue of responsibility and liability for autonomous robots is difficult to be solved, even for not weaponized systems. Differently from aerial drones, whose civil use have been recently regulated in most countries, including the United States and the European Union, referring to pilot liability, unmanned vehicles are, as said, “un-manned”, without man in the loop or with men even far from remote control, being in a domain where radio connections are limited to submerging windows and control is transferred to software programming. This makes the application of personal responsibility challenging, while indeed undermining basics principles to which the law of the sea applies, for example, in the area of navigation safety: could UMS be defined as vessels according to international conventions or are they to be considered something different? What's the real degree of independence encompassed within the term autonomy? These thoughts lead to include into consideration also manned and remotely operated vessels, whose wire connection to human operators is clearer but which pose in any case questions on legal status. This paper is devoted to identify the legal blanks in the field and analyse the applicability to UMS of maritime legal regimes and present regulations at international level. First of all, particular attention will be paid in trying to ascertain the status of such devices in order to reach a categorization of them under a maritime law perspective. Secondly, the article will analyse the juridical implications deriving from the various maritime zones as defined by the law of the sea towards the transit, the use and the operation of UMS. Going into details, the circulation of the aforesaid instruments is going to be examined in the light of the “innocent passage” institution. Lastly, the research will be focused on the liability arising from the employment of these systems in case of collision with other vessels, cultural and natural assets, private goods, or other harbour infrastructures and, more in general, where a violation of the navigational rules against casualties could be recognised. In particular, the study will mainly involve the IMO Conventions consecrated to safety or security measures and environmental issues.