Coast Guard: Approaches to Autonomous Ship Regulation

GAO Director Andrew Von Ah testified on Dec 16, 2025 before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation. to discuss GAO's recent work on commercial autonomous and remote ship technologies. This testimony summarizes GAO's August 2024 report entitled Coast Guard: Autonomous Ships and Efforts to Regulate Them and focuses on three areas: (1) U.S. Coast Guard efforts to regulate and monitor autonomous ships operating in U.S. waterways and the challenges it may face in the future, (2) International Maritime Organization efforts to integrate autonomous ships into its regulatory framework, and (3) how selected countries are addressing challenges in regulating autonomous ships in their respective waterways.