NPL and Lloyd's Register lead workshops in Tokyo to support future collaboration in Advancing Maritime Autonomous Systems

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International collaboration in science and technology has become increasingly crucial for addressing global challenges. The workshops being conducted in Tokyo this week (4-7 March 2024) are being held in partnership between the UK and Japan, building on decades of close cooperation. The outputs of this workshop will not only identify areas for collaboration to progress collective technical and scientific knowledge but will also serve to further strengthen the Japan-UK strategic partnership.

The workshops will be undertaken with stakeholder organisations including government and regulatory and those involved in the Nippon Foundation MEGURI 2040 Fully Autonomous Ship Programme. 

The focus of the workshops is to share and learn from each country’s leading organisations in the Maritime Innovation Sector, and specifically to identify areas for collaboration to enable the operational deployment of Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS) at scale.  Areas which future collaboration may focus on could include the development of innovations in test methods, tools and digital standards to support assurance and regulatory development, as well as deployment of emerging technologies as enabling infrastructure for MASS operations. 

This is aligned to the aims and objectives of the Maritime Autonomy Assurance Testbed (MAAT)  programme which is being established to develop an accessible and usable test and authorisation approach to assure the safety and reliability of MASS globally.  The technical principles underpinning this programme will be shared during the workshops and discussions. This collaborative programme represents a more integrated strategy and has been established by National Physical laboratory (NPL) and Lloyd’s Register and several of the UK’s leading research organisation and national agencies, including the UK Hydrographic Office, the Met Office, University of Plymouth, Plymouth Marine Lab, Warwick Manufacturing Group, with input from the Alan Turing Institute and university of York.  Many of who will be participating in the workshops.

This series of technical and regulatory workshops and meetings are being undertaken with support from the International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF), managed by the UK Government’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), and are aligned to the MAAT (Maritime Autonomy Assurance testbed) programme.