In a recently published whitepaper, Rolls-Royce explains what it is required for the transition to an era of autonomous shipping highlighting that the process is a more complex matter than a mere technological invention.
Rolls-Royce Advanced Autonomous Waterborne Applications Initiative (AAWA) whitepaper explores the research carried out to date on the business case for autonomous applications, the safety and security implications of designing and operating remotely operated ships, the legal and regulatory dimensions and the existence and readiness of a supplier network to deliver commercially applicable products in the short to medium term.
The figure above connects the levels of innovation with the technological and social change in two ways:
- The ongoing technological development and respective social change in which these technologies become socially accepted and desired feed the innovation activity in the field of autonomous shipping
- The innovation activities for autonomous shipping accelerate the technological and social change in general and thus reinforce the cross-industrial socio-technical transition towards autonomous technologies and their application in the society
Autonomous shipping will lead to a new kind of role set and division of work between the ‘actors’ in the shipping sector. The image below describes the possible entrance of new actors as well as the change of the roles of the current actors in the shipping businesses.
Based on findings, the whitepaper includes the following image illustrating how the autonomous transition in the maritime sector might take place. The basic concept is that the social acceptance for autonomous shipping affects what innovations are adopted and taken into use. Complex systemic change such as autonomous shipping cannot be immediately adopted as a whole but it is rather a path and a chain of interrelated events
The whitepaper concludes that the transition to autonomous shipping is a complex process as it requires a plethora of technologies to be integrated systemically, which means that cooperation is needed between various actors who can master the different technological areas. The technologies must be deemed valuable by the wider marine industry as well as the society as a whole.
Source & Image Credit: Rolls Royce
