The HUMANE Project¶

Status: established
Last updated: 2026-05-31
Sources: Hcas_Ch3_Humane_Approach.Pdf, Hcas_Ch4_Technology_Cyber_Humans.Pdf, Hcas_Ch7_Autonomous_Shipping_Revisited.Pdf, Hcas_Ch13_Overview_Recent_Research.Pdf
Tags: [humane, autonomous-shipping, mass, human-centred-design, ethnography-of-the-future, sociotechnical-systems, imo]

Summary¶

HUMANE (Human Maritime Autonomy Enable) is a research project that examines the implications of maritime autonomy from a human-centred perspective, using an "ethnography of the future" rather than technology-first scenarios (Lützhöft, 2023). Its central interest is how, in credible scenarios, the human collaborates with, hands over to, and takes over from automation to achieve a safe system state. The project ran expert workshops on system safety/cybersecurity, regulation, and skills/training, then revisited its findings through industry interviews to keep them current with a fast-moving autonomy agenda. Its outputs are compiled in the open-access book Human-Centred Autonomous Shipping (2023).

Body¶

Context¶

This article synthesises four chapters of Human-Centred Autonomous Shipping (2023) that report different parts of the HUMANE project. Lützhöft (2023, ch. 3) sets out the project's human-centred approach; Lützhöft and Earthy (2023a, ch. 4) describe its workshop method; Lützhöft and Hynnekleiv (2023, ch. 7) report the post-pandemic currency check; and Lützhöft and Earthy (2023b, ch. 12) reflect on whether 'MASS is everywhere'. Together they describe HUMANE's "ethnography of the future" stance and its findings on the human role in maritime autonomy. The project is the conceptual root of much of this knowledge base: its workshop data grounds the trust findings in Trust In Human Autonomy Teaming, its transcripts the ethnographic reading in Professional Autonomy Maritime, and its skills refrain the competence work in Seafarer Skills And Competence For Mass, while its shore-centre scenario feeds the Remote Operation Centre concept in Remote Operation Centres Mass.

Key Points¶

Lützhöft (2023) positions HUMANE against technology-led, human-replacement framings, noting that no comprehensive and integrated approach for the human element had been presented, tested, and validated. She argues that timeline expectations point toward evolution rather than revolution, with mixed traffic — conventional ships interacting with more-automated ships — likely for a long period given commercial replacement rates of only 3–4% per year. The methodology performs an ethnography of the future while accepting that "past" problems may surface, and asserts inclusiveness rather than comprehensiveness in its account of the human role: the project's interest is how, in credible scenarios, the human collaborates with, hands over to, and takes over from automation to achieve a safe system state (PDF p. 1, orig. p. 9).

Lützhöft and Earthy (2023a) report the workshop method that produced most of the project's evidence. The first workshop, held in Trondheim in October 2018, addressed system safety and cybersecurity, with the human's role in the sociotechnical system as the recurring theme. Discussion was guided by open-ended scenario prompts — unmanned bridge, unmanned engine room, ultra-low manning, shore-control/monitoring/support centre, and fully autonomous — deliberately offered without researcher-supplied definitions. The authors describe wanting to replace the prevailing technology-focused narrative, then dominated by a Rolls-Royce promotional video of a futuristic control centre, with a humans-and-technology focus (PDF p. 1, orig. p. 14).

Lützhöft and Hynnekleiv (2023) report a currency check added because the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted project momentum and put the results at risk of going stale before publication. They held "fireside conversations" with persons holding insight and influence over the autonomous shipping agenda. They modelled this data against the IMO MSC.1/Circ.1638 (2021) framework, using the four defined degrees of autonomy plus a "here-and-now" baseline, and chose to refrain from interpretation in that chapter, sharing the raw data so readers could form their own views (PDF p. 1, orig. p. 69).

Lützhöft and Earthy (2023b) record a recurring concern that the rush toward MASS may be overshadowing unresolved existing problems. An informant argues the industry is "running ahead of ourselves," citing significant problems with human–computer interfacing and information overload on existing ships, and questioning the suitability and efficacy of STCW as a model for sea-going education and training — challenges he believes should be addressed before taking on something as large as MASS (PDF p. 1, orig. p. 147). This connects HUMANE's autonomy work back to present-day human factors and to the skills agenda examined in Seafarer Skills And Competence For Mass.

Conclusion¶

The four chapters are consistent in framing rather than competing in findings: each applies the same human-centred, evolution-not-revolution stance to a different part of the project. Lützhöft (2023) supplies the approach, Lützhöft and Earthy (2023a) the method, Lützhöft and Hynnekleiv (2023) the updated currency-check data, and Lützhöft and Earthy (2023b) the reflection on whether autonomy is already everywhere. Where they differ is in posture toward interpretation — the currency-check chapter deliberately withholds it and shares raw data, while the 'MASS is everywhere' chapter (Lützhöft and Earthy, 2023b) foregrounds the informant view that existing problems should be resolved before MASS. The shared, unresolved position is that the human role must be understood before autonomy is scaled, which links the project to the trust and skills threads in Trust In Human Autonomy Teaming and Seafarer Skills And Competence For Mass.

References¶

Lützhöft, M. (2023) 'The HUMANE approach', in Human-Centred Autonomous Shipping. Boca Raton: CRC Press, ch. 3. doi: 10.1201/9781003430957-3. lutzhoft2023humane

Lützhöft, M. & Earthy, J. (2023a) 'Technology, cyber, smart ships, and humans', in Human-Centred Autonomous Shipping. Boca Raton: CRC Press, ch. 4. doi: 10.1201/9781003430957-4. lutzhoft2023technology

Lützhöft, M. & Earthy, J. (2023b) 'MASS is everywhere – or is it?', in Human-Centred Autonomous Shipping. Boca Raton: CRC Press, ch. 12. doi: 10.1201/9781003430957-12. lutzhoft2023mass

Lützhöft, M. & Hynnekleiv, A. (2023) 'Autonomous shipping revisited', in Human-Centred Autonomous Shipping. Boca Raton: CRC Press, ch. 7. doi: 10.1201/9781003430957-7. lutzhoft2023revisited

Open Questions¶

HUMANE deliberately refrains from interpretation in places, sharing raw transcript data; downstream synthesis of those transcripts (e.g. Nyce's ethnographic reading) is partial. See Professional Autonomy Maritime.
The project's workshop data also grounds the trust findings in Trust In Human Autonomy Teaming; other workshop themes (regulation, classification) are not yet compiled.