Objectives  The aim of this paper is to obtain test scenarios of autonomous collision avoidance for inland waterway ships by modeling.

  Methods  Starting with the automatic identification system (AIS) and radar data collection and fusion method, a ship navigation data collection and fusion system is established. Taking the inland waterway between the Three Gorges Dam and Gezhouba Dam as an example, ship scenario elements are collected and analyzed, and a parametric generation method of inland waterway collision avoidance test scenarios is proposed which can automatically generate a ship collision avoidance test scenario by setting a series of parameters. Taking two-ship and multi-ship encounters scenario as examples, a series of test scenarios are generated and simulated.

  Results  The collision avoidance simulation tests results show that the parameterized test scenario generation method proposed herein can effectively test the autonomous ship collision avoidance algorithm.

  Conclusions  The research providing a basis for improving the pertinence and practicality of inland river smart ship collision avoidance testing.