A Research On Legal Issues Of Unmanned Ship’s Salvage Of Life At Sea

With the development of unmanned ships,it gradually has the technical feasibility of life salvage at sea in practice since it should fulfill the obligation as stipulated in the international maritime treaties.However,the introduction of either remotely controlled unmanned ships or automatically controlled unmanned ships has deeply affected the international maritime convention system established with captains and crews as the targets of regulation and triggered an impact on the traditional life salvage system at sea.Unmanned ships have not only significant differences in manning conditions compared with conventional ships,which has confused the identification of the subject of salvage obligations.Technological innovations have also changed how obligations are performed,which has triggered discussions on applying the SOLAS Convention.Meanwhile,different levels of autonomy,whether the unmanned ships can adequately fulfill the obligation of life salvage at sea,are also necessary to resolve issues such as the delimitation of legal responsibilities and judgment conditions.Therefore,it is crucial to explore and understand the autonomous concept and characteristic legal system of life salvage of unmanned ships at sea.This article focuses on whether remotely controlled unmanned ships and automatically controlled unmanned ships should under the obligation of life salvage at sea and how to operate at sea.The first chapter is whether the unmanned ships should perform the duty of life salvage at sea.This part is based on the overview of the traditional life salvage obligations at sea,from the three aspects of the unique risks,the legal basis,and the nature of mandatory salvage obligations,combined with the technological development of the unmanned ships.The feasibility is elaborated,and the demand basis and realistic conditions for the unmanned ships to fulfill the obligation of life salvage at sea are analyzed.Simultaneously,it puts forward the legal dilemma faced by fulfilling this obligation and discusses them in the subsequent chapters.The second chapter confirms the subject of the performance of the unmanned ships’ life salvage obligations at sea.The analysis is mainly carried out from two aspects of remotely controlled unmanned ships and automatic control of unmanned ships,and the legal status of shore-based manipulators is emphatically studied.The provisions of the current maritime law on the life salvage obligations of the captain are applied to the possible results of the unmanned ships,combined with the relevance to the current legal subject,the content of the performance of the function,and the assumption of unique maritime risks to the life of the unmanned ships at sea.The subject of the obligation of salvation has analyzed and demonstrated how the content of the obligation of the salvation of life at sea should be improved through the content of the rights which enjoys realizing the equivalence and unification of rights and responsibilities.The third chapter is to study performing the duty of salvage of life by unmanned ships at sea.Because of the difficulties of unmanned ships in carrying out life salvage operations and the problems arising from the application of SOLAS,the technical characteristics of unmanned ships were discussed,including the improvement of duty performance methods and the transformation of salvage functions.Regarding determining conditions,it is necessary to clarify the boundaries between a ship in a position that can provide salvage,not seriously endangering its ship,crew,or passengers.How much to save based on the characteristics of unmanned ships.A balance can be found between direct relief measures and indirect relief measures regarding reasonable measures.The fourth chapter is the issue of the legal liability of unmanned ships’ life salvage at sea.Based on determining the subject of the obligation and the way of fulfilling the obligation,combining the available salvage subject and the extraordinary subject in the traditional life salvage,the special issue of the unmanned ships’ legal responsibility for the salvage of life at sea is discussed,and the difficulty of the salvage of the unmanned ship is considered.Moreover,adjust responsibilities appropriately.It is mainly solved by analyzing the shore-based controllers,computer control system,and computer control system programmers equipped on the unmanned ships to assume the responsibility.It involves the civil,criminal,and administrative responsibilities for failure to perform the statutory life salvage obligation.The fifth chapter mainly focuses on the reform of the life savage system at sea under the application of unmanned ships,and puts forward relevant legislative proposals based on the analysis of the previous four chapters.This paper holds that the definition and legal status of shore-based operators should be clearly defined in Chapter IX of the Maritime Law,and the content of the obligation of "salvage to the best of our ability" should be explained.While making use of the rapidly developing technological advantages,it should be consistent with the "purpose" of the current legal system to protect the safety of human life at sea and the Marine environment,so as to realize the respect and protection of life safety while promoting scientific and technological progress.