Ships Are Getting AI Faster Than the Shore That Watches Them

Germany's Fraunhofer FKIE has started a research project called LEAS-PRO. The goal is a demonstrator: an AI system that reads developing traffic situations and gives recommendations to vessel traffic service (VTS) operators, the people ashore who watch and guide ships in busy coastal waters. It will combine traffic data, ship movements and context to help operators spot risk in complicated encounters. Fraunhofer says the aim is not to replace controllers, but to reduce their mental workload as traffic becomes a mix of normal, highly automated and autonomous ships. The project runs until July 2028.

This is phase two. LEAS-PRO follows an earlier project called LEAS, funded with €3 million by the German research ministry from January 2022 to December 2024. Seven partners took part, including Fraunhofer CML, two institutes of the German Aerospace Center (DLR), Wismar University, Jakota Cruise Systems and Bergmann Marine. The work used a VTS simulator run by the federal waterways administration. When it started, Fraunhofer CML wrote that apart from some simulation studies, there was no practical experience of how VTS should handle mixed traffic.

The honest reading. Three years and €3 million produced a concept and simulator tests. The next step, a demonstrator, is due in mid-2028. That is not a criticism. Shore systems must be careful, because a wrong recommendation from VTS affects every ship in the area. But it shows the gap clearly. AI decision support and assisted navigation are arriving on bridges now, while the shore stations that watch those bridges are still in research. One more note, for transparency: FKIE describes itself as one of the largest defence research institutes in the Fraunhofer group. This project is civil, and its first phase was funded by the research ministry.

Why this matters to you. Every ship meets VTS. If your vessel uses AI-assisted navigation, the operator ashore will not know it unless someone tells them. Today there is no standard way for a ship to tell the shore that it is being steered with machine help. One part of the first project is worth noting: Wismar University tested whether AI could predict how a ship will manoeuvre, faster and more reliably, for the VTS operator. That only works if the shore knows what kind of control is on the bridge. A question for your next autonomy or assisted-navigation project: what does VTS see, and who tells them? [Splash247 · Fraunhofer FKIE · LEAS · Fraunhofer CML · LEAS]

This story is part of the Maritime AI Digest of 27 September 2026.