The Coast Guard Office of Commercial Vessel Compliance (CG-CVC) has issued Policy Letter 22-01 “Guidelines for Human-Supervised Testing of Remote Controlled and Autonomous Systems on Vessels” to provide direction and guidance to Officers in Charge, Marine Inspection (OCMI) and Captains of the Port (COTP) in response to industry requests seeking to implement remote control and autonomous systems on vessels.

The implementation of new technology on vessels has the potential to increase efficiencies and reduce accidents on vessels and the greater Marine Transportation System (MTS), but also introduces new safety risks and security challenges in the MTS. 

This Policy Letter is intended to reduce confusion on how OCMIs/COTPs should respond to requests and increase consistency across the Coast Guard.  This Policy Letter may be viewed with other CG-CVC policy on the Office of Commercial Vessel Compliance website.

Questions concerning this policy should be directed to CG-CVC@uscg.mil.

This blog is not a replacement or substitute for the formal posting of regulations and updates or existing processes for receiving formal feedback of the same. Links provided on this blog will direct the reader to official publications, such as the Federal Register, Homeport and the Code of Federal Regulations. These publications remain the official source for regulatory information published by the Coast Guard.