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, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential assistance it can provide in creating a safe testing environment for safety critical artificial intelligence prototypes; and if he will make a statement.

The value of AI has been identified in the Government’s Maritime 2050 Report (2019) Technology and Innovation Route Map (2019). Our goal is to leverage the UK’s existing strengths in artificial intelligence and the data-driven economy to ensure that the UK remains at the forefront of the data revolution.

Government’s key role in supporting the industry is to ensure that there is an appropriate and forward-looking domestic legislative framework to support the safe testing and use of artificial intelligence in the maritime sector. To support this, Government commissioned the Maritime Autonomy Regulation Lab (MARLab) report (2020) to identify barriers in regulation that could prevent technological development.