New research from ABS, ‘Beyond Technology Readiness: Applying Human Readiness Levels in Maritime Systems’ examines existing gaps in maritime human‑system integration and demonstrates how HRLs can be integrated into current maritime qualification processes.
According to the new ABS whitepaper, emerging maritime technologies, including alternative fuels, require qualification processes that extend beyond technical maturity; human readiness levels (HRLs) provide a structured approach that supports safer operations while reducing unnecessary cost and rework.
Michael Kei, ABS VP Technology, said: “Technical maturity alone is not sufficient to achieve operational safety. While existing frameworks offer valuable insight into technical maturity, they do not account for the human element that ultimately interacts with, operates, maintains and makes decisions with the technology. In this whitepaper, ABS is providing guidance for owners and vendors to incorporate human factors early so new technologies can be introduced more safely, effectively and with greater confidence.”
Technology readiness levels focus on hardware and software performance, while HRLs evaluate: operator roles and responsibilities; cognitive workload and decision authority; interface usability and interpretability; alarm strategy effectiveness; training effectiveness; procedural completeness; and organizational readiness.
The ABS whitepaper builds on existing guidance from the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the IMO, providing HRL maritime application examples for remote inspections, autonomous operations, AI decision support tools and augmented reality devices.
Recent research on maritime autonomous surface ships has highlighted emerging risks associated with supervisory control, automation trust, alarm overload and degraded situational awareness. ABS identifies ways to integrate HRLs into maritime qualification processes such as the ABS New Technology Qualification programme, Smart notations and verification and validation guides.
The ABS whitepaper Beyond Technology Readiness: Applying Human Readiness Levels in Maritime Systems can be downloaded here.
