The technologies needed to create remote and autonomous ships already exist, meaning it’s actually a matter of when it becomes a reality, not if, according to the Rolls-Royce led Advanced Autonomous Waterborne Applications Initiative.
The Rolls-Royce led Advanced Autonomous Waterborne Applications Initiative (AAWA) laid out its vision for the future of shipping last week – a vision that includes remote-controlled and fully autonomous cargo vessels by 2020.
AAWA, a project designed to bring together universities, ship designers, equipment manufacturers and classification societies to research the technology and regulatory issues surrounding remote and self-driving ships, released a white paper in conjunction with presentations at the Autonomous Ship Technology Symposium 2016 in Amsterdam.
“This is happening,” Rolls-Royce Vice President of Marine Innovation Oskar Levander said at the symposium. “It’s not if, it’s when.”
“The technologies needed to make remote and autonomous ships a reality exist,” he added. “The AAWA project is testing sensor arrays in a range of operating and climatic conditions in Finland and has created a simulated autonomous ship control system which allows the behavior of the complete communication system to be explored. We will see a remote controlled ship in commercial use by the end of the decade.”
The AAWA whitepaper examines the group’s research into the business case for autonomous shipping applications, any safety and security implications thereof, including legal and regulatory ramifications, as well as whether supplier networks in the space could handle the manufacturing and delivery of such products in the short to medium term.
AAWA includes researchers from some of Finland’s leading universities: Tampere University of Technology; VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd; Åbo Akademi University; Aalto University; and the University of Turku; as well as industry representatives from Rolls-Royce, Brighthouse NAPA, Deltamarin, DNV GL and Inmarsat.
In-depth testing of remote and autonomous sensor arrays are being carried out aboard a Finferries 65-meter double ended ferry, the Stella, which operates between Korpo and Houtskär in Finland. In addition, ESL Shipping Ltd is researching the implications of remote and autonomous ships for the short sea cargo sector.
The 6.6 million euro (U.S. $7.3 million) AAWA initiative is being funded by the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation, Tekes.
AAWA lays out vision for autonomous shipping
