Liability issues of Unmanned Surface Vehicles

Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs) are a widespread technology nowadays. USVs of all kinds and shapes are used for a variety of applications from scientific research to transportation. However, safety and regulatory issues still prevent the exploitation of the full potential of USVs. In particular, without a well-defined safety standard and efficient risk allocation, it is hard to assign liability and define insurance or compensation schemes. In this article, we will discuss different types of liability regimes that could be applied to different types of USVs classified by length and autonomy level.