Aiming to expand its research on autonomous shipping, Japanese Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) has set plans to test a remote-controlled container ship across the Pacific Ocean in 2019.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Hideyuki Ando, senior general manager at NYK-affiliated Monohakobi Technology Institute, informed that the company is considering to deploy a boxship for testing from Japan to North America, which will have a crew standby, for safety reasons.
The plan comes after the fatal collision of US warship John McCain with a merchant tanker on 21 August, off Singapore.
Last year, NYK also joined forces with radar manufacturer Furuno Electric and communication equipment makers Japan Radio and Tokyo Keiki, to explore autonomous shipping.
Autonomous shipping is a field of testing for other companies as well, including Rolls-Royce and Yara.
