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Pressemitteilung: Key takeaways from workshop Autonomous Inland Waterway Vessels: Market Ready or Are There Still Links Missing? / The workshop “Autonomous Inland Waterway Vessels: Market Ready or Are There Still Links Missing?”, held on 23 June 2026, brought together logistics stakeholders, inland waterway operators, ports, technology developers, researchers and shippers to discuss the opportunities and remaining barriers for deploying automated inland vessels in Europe. Organised by ALICE together with the Horizon Europe projects FOREMAST, AUTOFLEX and SEAMLESS, the workshop focused on how automation can support modal shift and sustainable logistics while addressing the practical conditions needed for commercial deployment. Throughout the discussions, speakers agreed that autonomous inland navigation has reached a stage where technology is no longer the primary challenge. Instead, the key questions concern infrastructure readiness, logistics integration, regulation, business viability and stakeholder collaboration. The workshop therefore examined how automated vessels can become part of competitive multimodal logistics chains rather than simply demonstrating new navigation technologies. Nik Delmeire (ALICE) opened the workshop by explaining that inland waterways have significant potential to contribute to Europe’s transition towards more sustainable freight transport. However, unlocking this potential requires understanding where automation creates real value for logistics operators and customers. Rather than asking whether autonomous vessels are technically feasible, the discussion focused on the conditions under which they can become commercially attractive and operationally viable. (....)