Rolls Royce Autonomous Ship
Rolls-Royce has become world-famous for its luxury cars and now it is developing remote-control (RC) and autonomous sea crafts. The British company hopes its self-driving ships will be as much of a game-changer in the commercial shipping industry as smartphones in telecommunications. It is now working to make drone ships more reliable and cost-effective, and believes unmanned ships will hit the retail market by 2020.
Oskar Levander is vice president of innovation for marine at Rolls-Royce. He stated at a recent conference in Amsterdam that RC/driverless ships would later hit the commercial market, according to PC Magazine.
The technology already exists. However, the goal of Rolls-Royce is to make the smart ships better and cheaper.
Rolls-Royce is teaming up with the Advanced Autonomous Waterborne Applications Initiative (AAWA) project that includes other companies. It is a $7 million project.
AAWA shared in a recent white paper that robotic ships that lack crew accommodations and a deck house could save space and money on sea vessels, to free up space for cargo. They would also boost reliability and productivity.
Rolls-Royce also stated on its website that new systems on the futuristic vessels will increase onboard safety. Automated tasks and processes will reduce the need for humans to work machinery, while people will still make critical decisions to operate the vessel.
The British automaker is testing how much human interaction should be required to operate the "ghost ships," according to RT. However, it believes that a hybrid of land-based RC and computerized sailing is the best option.
Rolls Royce stated a crew will sometimes be required. That includes different stages of a cargo ship's journey such as docking. However, the company suggested that sensors and satellite communications would be helpful in plotting the vessel's journey and taking emergency actions.
One example would be the smart ship avoiding crashing into another vessel. It could automatically change its direction or speed a little bit to avoid a collision.
The company's goal is fully autonomous ships by the end of the decade. It is already testing sensor arrays in various conditions in Finland, and Phase II of the project will continue until the end of 2017.
Rolls-Royce admits that issues such as marine laws and piracy could stymie its plans.
