Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. (K Line) has successfully tested an autonomous navigation system onboard one of their RORO vessels, under the MEGURI 2040 Fully Autonomous Ship Project (MEGURI2040).
In particular, the company has successfully conducted a sea demonstration test at the Proof of Concept (PoC) stage. The autonomous navigation system was installed on the “HOKUREN MARU No. 2,” a large Roll-on/Roll-off (RORO) ship operated by Kawasaki Kinkai Kisen Kaisha. The test involved three voyages starting on October 1, 2023 (Voyage 1: October 1-3, Voyage 2: October 9-11, Voyage 3 : October 17-19).
What is MEGURI2040?
The Nippon Foundation’s MEGURI2040 project has envisioned the fully autonomous navigation program. The project was launched in 2020 with the aim to reach a full-scale commercialisation of fully autonomous ship technology by 2025.
The test focused on the autonomous navigation system, which consists of a single function on board a ship. The goal is to eventually implement fully autonomous ships into society.
The sea demonstration test covered a round-trip route of approximately 1,600 km between Hitachi Port and Kushiro Port. This route is part of the existing RORO cargo ship service.
According to K Line, the autonomous navigation system achieved an average system operation rate of approximately 96% in the specified sea area known as the Operational Design Domain (ODD).
