A tale of two disruptive maritime technologies: nuclear propulsion and autonomy

Modern industries often attempt to implement innovations that have a disruptive potential. In shipping, this included a largely unsuccessful introduction of nuclear propulsion in late 20th century, among other concepts. Nowadays, introduction of increased autonomy is being associated with prospects of various industry-wide benefits, but is also burdened with serious obstacles. The objective of this study is to investigate reasons behind the failure of nuclear-powered merchant ships introduction and whether lessons learnt from it can be applied to the prospective implementation of autonomous merchant ships. It advocates that three aspects of maritime technology are crucial for its successful implementation: perceived level of safety, economical feasibility, and legal setup.