无人船船舶保险问题研究综述

A Review of Research on Marine Insurance Issues Relating to Unmanned Ships

摘要: 无人船的发展对传统船舶保险制度提出了新的挑战，但学界对此缺乏系统性研究。本文以文献综述的形式，梳理了国内外关于无人船船舶保险问题的研究成果。发现现有文献普遍认为，无人船符合现行法律中“船舶”的定义，但直接适用船舶保险条款仍存在障碍。同时，现有研究忽视了软件缺陷引发的适航性与产品责任冲突问题。适航性认定将软件缺陷风险主要分配给船舶所有人，而产品责任则将同一风险分配给生产商，两者在实务中可能产生冲突。且传统船舶保险条款未明示承保网络安全风险，举证困难问题突出。在被保险人告知义务方面，专有操作软件、传感器设计等技术信息的披露边界尚不明确。总体而言，现有研究对无人船保险问题的关注较为分散，缺乏从具体保险条款出发的系统分析，未来有必要在适航性标准调整、产品责任与船舶保险的衔接、网络安全风险承保以及告知义务规则细化等方面开展深入研究。

Abstract: The development of unmanned ships poses new challenges to the traditional marine insurance regime, yet systematic academic research on this issue remains limited. Adopting a literature review approach, this paper surveys Chinese and foreign scholarship on marine insurance issues relating to unmanned ships. It finds that the existing literature generally agrees that unmanned ships fall within the legal definition of “ship” under current law, but that obstacles remain to the direct application of existing marine insurance clauses to such vessels. Meanwhile, existing research has largely overlooked the tension between seaworthiness and product liability in cases involving software defects. The assessment of seaworthiness primarily allocates the risk arising from software defects to the shipowner, whereas product liability assigns the same risk to the manufacturer, thereby potentially giving rise to conflicts in practice. In addition, traditional marine insurance clauses do not expressly cover cyber risks, and evidentiary difficulties remain significant. With regard to the insured’s duty of disclosure, the boundaries of disclosure concerning technical information such as proprietary operating software and sensor design remain unclear. Overall, existing research on insurance issues relating to unmanned ships remains fragmented and lacks a systematic analysis grounded in specific insurance clauses. Further research is therefore needed on the adjustment of seaworthiness standards, the coordination between product liability and marine insurance, the coverage of cyber risks, and the refinement of rules governing the duty of disclosure.