24.2.2022
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
L 45/1533 COMMISSION PREPARATORY ACTIONS
CHAPTER PA 02 — EUROPEAN STRATEGIC INVESTMENTS (cont'd) PA 02 22
(cont'd)
PA 02 22 02
(cont'd) Remarks
The inland waterways transport is changing benefitting from emerging technologies that lead to a safer, digital and more sustainable sector.
Autonomous vessel operations will open new business opportunities, as well as new challenges, supporting the digitalisation and sustainability challenges of the Union.
EU Space Data from Galileo, EGNOS and Copernicus will be key enablers of this transformation, by facilitating reliable and robust positioning information and harmonised images of the fairways and environment, needed for safe and green autonomous operations.
The need for highly accurate, resilient positioning is agreed for operations like: navigation in narrow fairways, bridge passing, waterways locks, auto-mooring and simultaneous berthing operations.
Further automation (with no human in the loop) would welcome additional features that will be provided by Galileo differentiators, not leveraged yet, such as authentication and integrity in the position.
The definition of autonomous operation may rely on robust images of the area to be navigated.
Today, operators and manufacturers rely on diverse sources of such data that lead to a non-harmonised approach.
However, Copernicus images will ensure a homogeneous Union approach, supporting the safe integration of simultaneous autonomous operations as well as integration with manned traffic.
The preparatory action shall be focused on: — attendance to existing working groups addressing solutions for autonomous vessels, including different public/private platforms and interviewing key industrial stakeholders, such as shipping associations, port operators, relevant maritime and inland waterways authorities; — contribution to standardisation work within CESNI (Comité Européen pour l’Élaboration de Standards dans le Domaine de Navigation Intérieure); — identification of the user requirements for the safe navigation in inland waterways where autonomous, remotely piloted and manually piloted vessels will co-exist; — definition of concept of operations and positioning performance needs for different operations of autonomous vessels; — identification of main challenges to be overcome to ensure safe operation and resilient positioning; — identification and analysis of the technical and regulatory barriers (e.g. lack of standards and regulation), industry value chain and new business models that could emerge in inland waterways navigation taking advantage of the three-dimensional synergies between satellite-based navigation, imagery and telecom; — identification of the possible actions at national, regional and local level to boost business development, and support SMEs/start-ups to deliver EU Space based solutions to realize the future Union autonomous vessels capability for inland waterways; — prototyping of onboard equipment that uses Galileo differentiators to address the main needs not covered so far by existing equipment, with focus on the use of Galileo authentication to prevent spoofing or use of fake signals, preventing accidents.
Equipment prototypes developed within this pilot project should be based, when available, on existing commercial off-the-shelf components;