Cooperative Collision Avoidance for Autonomous Vessels in a Mixed Traffic Environment

The rapid advancement of autonomous vessels and communication technology promises safer, more efficient, and sustainable shipping solutions. While autonomous vessels (AVs) offer the potential to significantly reduce the number of accidents caused by human error, their successful integration into mixed environments hinges on their ability to navigate complex interactions with manual vessels (MVs) effectively. We study the dynamics of interaction between AVs and MVs under the lens of cooperative and non-cooperative behavior using a cooperative game theory model in a connected mixed environment. Different risk perceptions of AVs and MVs based on ship domains were considered for the estimation of collision risk for different vessel types in mixed traffic. Simulation results validate the proposed collision avoidance strategy in multiple scenarios, demonstrating that the cooperative game approach can help AVs to dynamically adapt their trajectories and effectively obtain collision-free paths amid complex interactions with various encountered vessels.