Safety and Dependability of Autonomous Systems in Container Terminals: Challenges and Research Directions

摘要

Increasing use of autonomous machine systems is a major trend in port logistics, especially in container handling. Over the past decades, large seaports have automated parts of their operations. Currently, also smaller ports are looking to apply automated and autonomous solutions. This is expected to increase efficiency and safety, but also to introduce new mixed-traffic situations between humans, manual machines and machines of different levels of autonomy. This is likely to introduce safety risks and dependability challenges for system development and operation. In this paper, we discuss selected key challenges that need to be solved to ensure that autonomous container handling solutions can be implemented safely and profitably. We also present topical research directions that are planned and ongoing to solve these challenges.