Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Lloyd’s Register’s report The Learning Curve: The state of artificial intelligence in maritime, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of the future use of artificial intelligence in shipping.

The value of AI has been identified in the Government’s Maritime 2050 Report (2019) and Technology and Innovation Route Map (2019). Our goal is to leverage the UK’s existing strengths in AI and the data-driven economy to ensure that the UK remains at the forefront of the data revolution. The Department has created a dedicated Emerging Technologies Team and is collaborating cross-government, and with leading institutions such as the Alan Turing Institute, to ensure that the benefits of AI are realised in the transport sector.

To support the development of artificial intelligence in shipping, the Department has, for example, provided £169,232 through the Maritime Research and Innovation UK (MarRI-UK) Technology and Innovation call to the University of Liverpool’s safe port navigation project.