European training and research network on Autonomous Barges for Smart Inland Shipping

Project Information

AUTOBarge

Grant agreement ID: 955768

DOI

10.3030/955768

Project closed

EC signature date 28 May 2021

Start date 1 October 2021

End date 30 September 2025

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 4 090 128,48

EU contribution

€ 4 090 128,48

Coordinated by

KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN
Belgium

CORDIS provides links to public deliverables and publications of HORIZON projects.

Links to deliverables and publications from FP7 projects, as well as links to some specific result types such as dataset and software, are dynamically retrieved from OpenAIRE .

Deliverables

Websites, patent fillings, videos etc. (2)

AUTOBarge Promotion Video
Project website

Other (6)

AUTOBarge NWE1 (Leuven, BE)
AUTOBarge NWE4 (Trondheim, NO)
AUTOBarge Kick-Off and Recruitment Event
Workshop at the Autonomous Ship Technology Symposium 2023
AUTOBarge NWE3 + Stakeholder Interviewing and Co-Thinking Session (Delft, NL)
AUTOBarge NWE2 + Midterm Progress Meeting (Gothenberg, SE)

Documents, reports (5)

Description of fault diagnosis agent prototype system for inland waterway system
Description of the Artificial Intelligence/Human-Automation Interactions model for data collection, processing and distribution

Description of the Artificial IntelligenceHumanAutomation Interactions model for data collection processing and distribution

Report on the specification of models for measurements of objects using relevant sensors (lidar, cameras, radar) along with specification of kinematical models for the moving objects to be used by the tracking methods
Report of the impact assessment of autonomous inland shipping on the current legal framework
Report on the definition of the theoretical Agent-Based Modelling approach

Report on the definition of the theoretical AgentBased Modelling approach

Publications

Conference proceedings (16)

Enhancing Inland Waterway Transport Through LiDAR-Based Updates to Electronic Navigational Charts

Author(s): Zhongbi Luo, Senne van Baelen, Peter Slaets, Herman Bruyninckx
Published in: OCEANS 2024 - Halifax, 2024, Page(s) 01-08
Publisher: IEEE
DOI: 10.1109/oceans55160.2024.10754408

Hydrologic Riverbed Generation and Operational Analysis for Autonomous Vessels in Meandering Inland Waterways

Author(s): C. Zhang, J. W. Ringsberg and F. Thies
Published in: 35th International Ocean and Polar Engineering Conference (ISOPE), 2025
Publisher: International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers (ISOPE)

Model Predictive Control for Path Following and Collision-Avoidance of Autonomous Ships in Inland Waterways

Author(s): D. Mahipala, T. A. Johansen
Published in: 31st Mediterranean Conference on Control and Automation (MED), 2023
Publisher: IEEE
DOI: 10.1109/med59994.2023.10185796

Improved Fusion of AIS Data for Multiple Extended Object Tracking

Author(s): Martin Baerveldt, Jiangtao Shuai, Edmund Førland Brekke
Published in: 2024 27th International Conference on Information Fusion (FUSION), 2024, Page(s) 1-8
Publisher: IEEE
DOI: 10.23919/fusion59988.2024.10706459

Extended Object Tracking Using a Gaussian Process Extent Model and Scene Flow-LiDAR Fusion

Author(s): Steffen Folaasen, Martin Baerveldt, Michael Ernesto López, Nicholas Dalhaug, Annette Stahl, Edmund Brekke
Published in: 2025 IEEE Aerospace Conference, 2025, Page(s) 1-19
Publisher: IEEE
DOI: 10.1109/aero63441.2025.11068504

Isochrone-Based Collision Avoidance for Enhanced Ship Safety in Confined Waterways

Author(s): Yuhan Chen; Chi Zhang; Wengang Mao
Published in: The 35th International Ocean and Polar Engineering Conference, 2025, ISSN 1098-6189
Publisher: International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers (ISOPE)

Navigating the Waters of Object Detection: Evaluating the Robustness of Real-time Object Detection Models for Autonomous Surface Vehicles

Author(s): Yunjia Wang, Kaizheng Wang, Zihao Zhang, Jeroen Boydens, Davy Pissoort, Mathias Verbeke
Published in: 2024 IEEE Conference on Artificial Intelligence (CAI), 2024, Page(s) 985-992
Publisher: IEEE
DOI: 10.1109/cai59869.2024.00180

AMLOP: A Framework for the Operational Safety Assurance of Machine Learning Leveraging Model Monitoring

Author(s): Yunjia Wang, Laure Buysse, Dries Vanoost, Davy Pissoort, Jeroen Boydens, Mathias Verbeke
Published in: 2025 IEEE Conference on Artificial Intelligence (CAI), 2025, Page(s) 1361-1368
Publisher: IEEE
DOI: 10.1109/cai64502.2025.00248

A collision avoidance algorithm with intention prediction for inland waterways ships

Author(s): Hoang Anh Tran, Tor Arne Johansen, Rudy R. Negenborn
Published in: 22nd IFAC World Congress, 2023
Publisher: IFAC
DOI: 10.1088/1742-6596/2618/1/012004

Methods to Handle Interior and Boundary Measurements for the Gaussian Process Model

Author(s): Martin Baerveldt, Edmund FØrland Brekke
Published in: 2025 28th International Conference on Information Fusion (FUSION), 2025, Page(s) 1-8
Publisher: IEEE
DOI: 10.23919/fusion65864.2025.11123938

Manoeuvring Modelling and Control Design of Autonomous Vessels on Inland Waterways

Author(s): Chengqian Zhang, Abhishek Dhyani, Jonas W. Ringsberg, Fabian Thies, Vasso Reppa, Rudy R. Negenborn
Published in: Volume 5A: Ocean Engineering, 2024
Publisher: American Society of Mechanical Engineers
DOI: 10.1115/omae2024-126580

Model Identification and Path Following for an Inland Vessel Using IENC Data

Author(s): M. AmirReza Haqshenas, Jan Swevers, Peter Slaets
Published in: 2024 18th International Conference on Control, Automation, Robotics and Vision (ICARCV), 2025, Page(s) 846-851
Publisher: IEEE
DOI: 10.1109/icarcv63323.2024.10821672

Extended target PMBM tracker with a Gaussian Process target model on LiDAR data

Author(s): M. Baerveldt, M. E. Lopez, E. F. Brekke
Published in: 2023 26th International Conference on Information Fusion (FUSION), 2023
Publisher: IEEE
DOI: 10.23919/fusion52260.2023.10224156

Sensitivity of Ship Voyage Optimizations to Various Energy Cost Models

Author(s): Yuhan Chen, Wengang Mao
Published in: Volume 5A: Ocean Engineering, 2024
Publisher: American Society of Mechanical Engineers
DOI: 10.1115/omae2024-127986

A Retrofitted Dynamic Window Approach with Pivot Point Control for Maneuvering Inland Vessels on Constrained Surfaces

Author(s): D. Wang, Y. Zhang, P. Slaets
Published in: 9th International Conference on Mechatronics and Robotics Engineering (ICMRE), Issue 10-12 Feb 2023, 2023, Page(s) 133-138
Publisher: IEEE
DOI: 10.1109/icmre56789.2023.10106525

Different strategies to improve isochrone voyage optimization algorithm

Author(s): Yuhan Chen, Wengang Mao, Chi Zhang
Published in: The 9th International Conference on Marine Structures (MARSTRUCT 2023), 2023, Page(s) p. 53-61
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Group
DOI: 10.1201/9781003399759-6

Peer reviewed articles (32)

Autonomous inland shipping: Learning from regulation in air, rail, road and sea transport

Author(s): Sophie C. Orzechowski
Published in: WMU Journal of Maritime Affairs, 2025, ISSN 1651-436X
Publisher: World Maritime University
DOI: 10.1007/s13437-025-00377-6

Asynchronous Distributed Collision Avoidance With Intention Consensus for Inland Autonomous Ships

Author(s): Hoang Anh Tran, Nikolai Lauvås, Tor Arne Johansen, Rudy R. Negenborn
Published in: IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology, Issue 33, 2025, Page(s) 2410-2425, ISSN 1063-6536
Publisher: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
DOI: 10.1109/tcst.2025.3587842

Autonomous inland shipping: A contractual perspective in Belgium and the Netherlands

Author(s): Camilla Domenighini
Published in: Tijdschrift Vervoer & Recht, Issue 6 (2024), 2024, ISSN 1383-8849
Publisher: Uitgeverij Paris

Design and Build of an Autonomous Catamaran Urban Cargo Vessel

Author(s): Yan-Yun Zhang, Jiangtao Shuai, Jef Billet, Peter Slaets
Published in: Journal of Physics: Conference Series, Issue 2618, 2023, Page(s) 012002, ISSN 1742-6588
Publisher: Institute of Physics
DOI: 10.1088/1742-6596/2618/1/012002

A POMDP model-based online risk mitigation method for autonomous inland vessels

Author(s): Abhishek Dhyani, Yunjia Wang, Mathias Verbeke, Davy Pissoort, Vasso Reppa
Published in: IFAC-PapersOnLine, Issue 58, 2024, Page(s) 335-340, ISSN 2405-8963
Publisher: Elsevier BV
DOI: 10.1016/j.ifacol.2024.10.076

Learning-based Pareto-optimum routing of ships incorporating uncertain meteorological and oceanographic forecasts

Author(s): Yuhan Guo, Yiyang Wang, Yuhan Chen, Lingxiao Wu, Wengang Mao
Published in: Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Issue 192, 2024, Page(s) 103786, ISSN 1366-5545
Publisher: Pergamon Press Ltd.
DOI: 10.1016/j.tre.2024.103786

Design and validation of an intention-aware probabilistic framework for trajectory prediction: Integrating COLREGS, grounding hazards, and planned routes

Author(s): Dhanika Mahipala, Trym Tengesdal, Børge Rokseth, Tor Arne Johansen
Published in: Ocean Engineering, Issue 335, 2025, Page(s) 121564, ISSN 0029-8018
Publisher: Pergamon Press Ltd.
DOI: 10.1016/j.oceaneng.2025.121564

A collision avoidance algorithm with intention prediction for inland waterways ships

Author(s): Hoang Anh Tran, Tor Arne Johansen, Rudy R. Negenborn
Published in: IFAC-PapersOnLine, Issue 56, 2024, Page(s) 4337-4343, ISSN 2405-8963
Publisher: Elsevier BV
DOI: 10.1016/j.ifacol.2023.10.1805

The shift toward autonomous European inland waterway shipping: Identifying the gaps in the emerging socio-technical system

Author(s): R Saha, M Lundh, S N MacKinnon
Published in: Journal of Physics: Conference Series, Issue 2618, 2023, Page(s) 012016, ISSN 1742-6588
Publisher: Institute of Physics
DOI: 10.1088/1742-6596/2618/1/012016

Identifying innovation factors and actors in autonomous inland shipping: a literature review

Author(s): Dhaneswara Al Amien
Published in: Journal of Shipping and Trade, Issue 9, 2024, ISSN 2364-4575
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
DOI: 10.1186/s41072-024-00189-6

A systematic literature review of factors influencing the regulation of autonomous inland shipping in Europe

Author(s): Sophie C. Orzechowski, Wouter Verheyen, Christa Sys
Published in: European Transport Research Review, Issue 16, 2024, ISSN 1866-8887
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
DOI: 10.1186/s12544-024-00678-6

State-of-the-art optimization algorithms in weather routing — ship decision support systems: challenge, taxonomy, and review

Author(s): Yuhan Chen, Chi Zhang, Yuhan Guo, Yiyang Wang, Xiao Lang, Mingyang Zhang, Wengang Mao
Published in: Ocean Engineering, Issue 331, 2025, Page(s) 121198, ISSN 0029-8018
Publisher: Pergamon Press Ltd.
DOI: 10.1016/j.oceaneng.2025.121198

A Multiple Extended Object Tracker with the Gaussian Process Model Utilizing Negative Information

Author(s): M. Baerveldt, M. E. Lopez, E. F. Brekke
Published in: Journal of Advances in Information Fusion, Issue Vol. 19 Issue 2., 2024, Page(s) 88-108, ISSN 1557-6418
Publisher: Information Society of Information Fusion

An Isochrone-Based Predictive Optimization for Efficient Ship Voyage Planning and Execution

Author(s): Yuhan Chen, Wengang Mao
Published in: IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, Issue 25, 2024, Page(s) 18078-18092, ISSN 1524-9050
Publisher: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
DOI: 10.1109/tits.2024.3416349

Parallel distributed collision avoidance with intention consensus based on ADMM

Author(s): Hoang Anh Tran, Tor Arne Johansen, Rudy R. Negenborn
Published in: IFAC-PapersOnLine, Issue 58, 2024, Page(s) 302-309, ISSN 2405-8963
Publisher: Elsevier BV
DOI: 10.1016/j.ifacol.2024.07.357

Motion Constrained Point Cloud Matching for Maritime Tracking

Author(s): Nicholas Dalhaug, Martin Baerveldt, Angelica I. Aviles-Rivero, Carola-Bibiane Schönlieb, Annette Stahl, Rudolf Mester, Edmund Førland Brekke
Published in: IEEE Access, Issue 13, 2025, Page(s) 111354-111371, ISSN 2169-3536
Publisher: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
DOI: 10.1109/access.2025.3582327

Autonomous inland shipping : will the barge owner be stuck ‘between the devil and the deep blue sea’?

Author(s): Camilla Domenighini
Published in: Il diritto marittimo, 2022, Page(s) 752-784, ISSN 0012-348X
Publisher: Il diritto marittimo

Development of a ship performance model for power estimation of inland waterway vessels

Author(s): C.Zhang, J.W. Ringsberg, F. Thies
Published in: Ocean Engineering, Issue Vol. 287, 2023, ISSN 0029-8018
Publisher: Pergamon Press Ltd.
DOI: 10.1016/j.oceaneng.2023.115731

PMBM Filtering With Fusion of Target-Provided and Exteroceptive Measurements: Applications to Maritime Point and Extended Object Tracking

Author(s): Audun G. Hem, Martin Baerveldt, Edmund F. Brekke
Published in: IEEE Access, Issue 12, 2024, Page(s) 55404-55423, ISSN 2169-3536
Publisher: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
DOI: 10.1109/access.2024.3389824

Autonomous inland navigation: a literature review and extracontractual liability issues

Author(s): Camilla Domenighini
Published in: Journal of Shipping and Trade, Issue 9, 2024, ISSN 2364-4575
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
DOI: 10.1186/s41072-024-00171-2

Strategies to improve the isochrone algorithm for ship voyage optimisation

Author(s): Yuhan Chen, Wuliu Tian, Wengang Mao
Published in: Ships and Offshore Structures, Issue 19, 2024, Page(s) 2137-2149, ISSN 1744-5302
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
DOI: 10.1080/17445302.2024.2329011

Predicting inland waterway freight demand with a dynamic spatio-temporal graph attention-based multi attention network

Author(s): Lingyu Zhang, Oliver Schacht, Qing Liu, Adolf K.Y. Ng
Published in: Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Issue 199, 2025, Page(s) 104139, ISSN 1366-5545
Publisher: Pergamon Press Ltd.
DOI: 10.1016/j.tre.2025.104139

A Multiple Sensor Fault Diagnosis Scheme for Autonomous Surface Vessels

Author(s): Abhishek Dhyani, Rudy R. Negenborn, Vasso Reppa
Published in: IFAC-PapersOnLine, Issue 58, 2025, Page(s) 31-36, ISSN 2405-8963
Publisher: Elsevier BV
DOI: 10.1016/j.ifacol.2024.07.189

Regulatory scoping exercise for the future adoption of autonomous inland ships in Europe

Author(s): Sophie C. Orzechowski
Published in: Journal of Shipping and Trade, Issue 9, 2024, ISSN 2364-4575
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
DOI: 10.1186/s41072-023-00160-x

Comparing Multiple Extended Object Tracking with Point Based Multi Object Tracking for LiDAR in a Maritime Context

Author(s): Martin Baerveldt, Audun Gullikstad Hem, Edmund Førland Brekke
Published in: Journal of Physics: Conference Series, Issue 2618, 2023, Page(s) 012011, ISSN 1742-6588
Publisher: Institute of Physics
DOI: 10.1088/1742-6596/2618/1/012011

Nonlinear model predictive control for path following of autonomous inland vessels in confined waterways

Author(s): Chengqian Zhang, Abhishek Dhyani, Jonas W. Ringsberg, Fabian Thies, Rudy R. Negenborn, Vasso Reppa
Published in: Ocean Engineering, Issue 334, 2025, Page(s) 121592, ISSN 0029-8018
Publisher: Pergamon Press Ltd.
DOI: 10.1016/j.oceaneng.2025.121592

Towards autonomous inland shipping: a manoeuvring model in confined waterways

Author(s): Chengqian Zhang, Yucong Ma, Fabian Thies, Jonas W. Ringsberg, Yihan Xing
Published in: Ships and Offshore Structures, Issue 20, 2025, Page(s) 767-779, ISSN 1744-5302
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
DOI: 10.1080/17445302.2024.2358284

A voyage planning framework for energy performance analysis of autonomous inland waterway vessels

Author(s): Chengqian Zhang, Chi Zhang, Fabian Thies, Wengang Mao, Jonas W. Ringsberg
Published in: Energy, Issue 335, 2025, Page(s) 137906, ISSN 0360-5442
Publisher: Pergamon Press Ltd.
DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2025.137906

AUTOBargeSim: MATLAB® toolbox for the design and analysis of the guidance and control system for autonomous inland vessels

Author(s): Abhishek Dhyani, Amirreza Haqshenas Mojaveri, Chengqian Zhang, Dhanika Mahipala, Hoang Anh Tran, Yan-Yun Zhang, Zhongbi Luo, Vasso Reppa
Published in: IFAC-PapersOnLine, Issue 59, 2025, Page(s) 818-823, ISSN 2405-8963
Publisher: Elsevier BV
DOI: 10.1016/j.ifacol.2025.11.736

Experimental Identification of Decoupled Ship Dynamic Models for an Autonomous Catamaran Urban Cargo Vessel

Author(s): Yan-Yun Zhang, Jef Billet, Peter Slaets
Published in: IFAC-PapersOnLine, Issue 58, 2024, Page(s) 229-234, ISSN 2405-8963
Publisher: Elsevier BV
DOI: 10.1016/j.ifacol.2024.10.059

Navigating environmental sustainability in inland waterway transport: emission challenges and solutions

Author(s): Lingyu Zhang, Qing Liu, Terje A. Mathisen, Ying-En Ge
Published in: Maritime Policy & Management, 2025, Page(s) 1-25, ISSN 0308-8839
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
DOI: 10.1080/03088839.2025.2523589

Enhancing the dependability of autonomous surface vehicles through robustness benchmarking of real-time object detection models

Author(s): Yunjia Wang, Zihao Zhang, Kaizheng Wang, Holger Caesar, Jeroen Boydens, Davy Pissoort, Mathias Verbeke
Published in: Expert Systems with Applications, Issue 296, 2025, Page(s) 129151, ISSN 0957-4174
Publisher: Pergamon Press Ltd.
DOI: 10.1016/j.eswa.2025.129151

Book chapters (1)

Legal aspects related to circular shipbuilding and sustainable business model in autonomous inland vessel operations

Author(s): Camilla Domenighini
Published in: Towards a Zero-Emissions and Digitalized Transport Sector, 2025, Page(s) 167-192, ISBN 2147483647
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
DOI: 10.4337/9781035321469.00016