Human-Machine Interaction Challenges for Bridge Operations in Large Passenger Ships and Future Improvements from The Deck Officers' Perspective

Abstract

Technological bridge solutions have been implemented to improve safety and efficiency, but deck officers still face challenges in their daily use of these tools. Prior maritime human factors research has primarily focused on investigating issues such as workload, stress, teamwork, and situation awareness in ship operations, with limited attention given to the integration work, dynamic context, and factors on the system design level. Through interviews with maritime experts and field studies on two large Baltic passenger ships, this study examines the human-machine interaction challenges in today's bridge operations and identified areas for improvement. The results do not only explore the integration challenges imposed on the mariners, but also identify several contextual and system factors that contribute to these challenging bridge operations: dynamic situations and uncertainties, potentially conflicting goals, trust issues, lack of tool support and standardization. Suggestions for future improvements to bridge systems from the deck officers' perspective are also presented, with a focus on supporting proactivity, trust, context-awareness, and system integration. A few system design reflections were also made to fathom the challenges and inform potential future design directions. The study provides a thorough understanding of human-machine interaction challenges in bridge operations, which sets a foundation for future design and deployment of human-centered integrated bridge systems.

Keywords: Maritime, Human Factors, Human, Machine Interaction Challenges, Bridge Operations, Integration, Usability, Proactivity, Context, Trust, Standardization, Safety

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1003858