无人船碰撞责任认定研究

Research on Liability Determination for Collisions of Unmanned Vessels

摘要: 无人船技术的商业化应用对现行海事碰撞责任制度提出了系统性挑战。本文以责任认定为核心，围绕无人船法律地位、岸基操控人员定性、归责原则选择及责任主体划分四个层面展开分析。研究认为，无人船应被肯定其形式上的船舶地位，并借助等效替代原则解决适航性等适用障碍；岸基操控人员的法律身份需依据自主等级与法律关系分层认定；过错责任仍应作为基本归责原则，系统缺陷所致损害可借助产品责任制度救济；责任主体涵盖船舶所有人、操控人员及系统生产者，责任划分应沿用传统碰撞分类框架，并审慎处理海事赔偿责任限制的适用争议。

Abstract: The commercial application of unmanned ship technology poses systematic challenges to the current maritime collision liability system. This article focuses on liability determination and conducts an analysis from four aspects: the legal status of unmanned ships, the characterization of shore-based operators, the selection of liability principles, and the division of liability subjects. The study holds that unmanned ships should be affirmed their status as vessels, and the equivalent substitution principle can be used to solve the obstacles such as navigability applicability; the legal identity of shore-based operators needs to be determined based on the autonomous level and legal relationship in a hierarchical manner; fault liability should still be the basic principle of liability attribution, and damages caused by system defects can be remedied through the product liability system; the liability subjects include the ship owner, the operator, and the system producer, and the division of liability should follow the traditional collision classification framework, while carefully handling the disputes over the application of maritime compensation liability limitation.