Tag: autonomous ships

Russian developers have launched the project of a unique technological platform that will allow testing of unmanned surface vessels navigation in virtual environment. The project will be presented by the working group MariNet of the National Technological Initiative.

The One Sea – Autonomous Maritime Ecosystem announced the opening of the Jaakonmeri autonomous maritime test area, the first to be globally open to anyone wishing to test autonomous maritime traffic, vessels, or technologies related to it. 

ABS informed that it joined the Unmanned Cargo Ship Development Alliance to work with industry partners, including class organizations, shipyards, equipment manufacturers and designers to advance autonomous shipping.

BOURBON has entered MoU with Automated Ships Ltd to support the building of the world’s first autonomous, fully-automated and cost-efficient prototype vessel for offshore operations, in collaboration with the project’s primary technology partner, KONGSBERG.

China Classification Society and HNA Technology Logistics Group have launched an unmanned cargo ship development alliance in China. The collaboration aims to establish technology and regulatory standards and assess of the environmental impacts and the commercialization of unmanned vessels.

A safe steering for the remote-monitored and controlled autonomous ships of the future is currently under development. The new technology has been developed for navigation systems and ship autopilots, which steer ships automatically.

Rolls-Royce and Svitzer have demonstrated the world’s first remotely operated commercial vessel in Copenhagen harbour, Denmark. The companies have also signed an agreement to continue their cooperation to test remote and autonomous operations for vessels, such as autonomous navigation, situational awareness, remote control centre and communication.

Following an initiative by the Norwegian Maritime Authority, among others, IMO decided to put the issue of autonomous ships on the agenda for discussion at the next MSC. Norway has already started up the first trials of autonomous ships, through the approval of a test area in the Trondheimsfjord.

According to the report, cyber, autonomous shipping and piracy risks are the current major concerns for the industry as economic pressures challenge budgets. 85 large ships lost worldwide in 2016, down 50% over a decade. Top losses were reported in South China and Southeast Asia and now East Mediterranean region is considered as the top incident hotspot.