First considerations on the legal regulation of the unmanned ships

The growing importance of the autonomous means of transport, and specifically of the unmanned ships, governed by an artificial intelligence, requires to frame the phenomenon in legal terms, with a view also to proposing amendments to the international conventions in order to introduce the hypotheses of unmanned ships in the specific body of law. The special purposes in the use of unmanned ships are here considered, including the use of these means of transport for the salvage of people and property in distress at sea. In this respect, it is analyzed the main problem of the general duty to provide assistance to people in distress at sea related to the salvage operation with autonomous means of transport. Navigation with unmanned ships involves also problems, which are here addressed, in defining the legal framework of the liability for the collision between vessels.