Forget Autonomous Cars—Autonomous Ships Are Almost Here

Forget Autonomous Cars—Autonomous Ships Are Almost Here

Unmanned Maritime Systems (UMS) are increasingly playing a greater role in both civilian and military functions. A UMS can often perform functions safer, at a lower cost and often more efficiently than manned crew operations. Tasks such as diver inspections of pipelines or ship salvaging, mine detection and Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) operations have all experienced increases in efficiency due to UMS utilization. Regardless of application, rapid technological advances have enabled swift growth across the spectrum of maritime operations.

One area that could revolutionize global markets, is the use of automated cargo ships. Recent technological improvements have allowed advancement in the autonomous ships, capable of being piloted remotely, as well as autonomous craft that can take corrective actions for themselves. While fully autonomous cargo ship may be a few years away, automated commercial ships such as ferries/tugs that navigate themselves through local coasts may be a reality in the next few years (Levander, 2017).

Rolls Royce is a part of a joint project in Finland called the Advanced Autonomous Waterborne Applications (AAWA), working to develop and improve technology necessary to make fully automated commercial shipping a reality. Ships have been downsizing the amount of crew required to operate steadily over the past few centuries, as technology helps civilization adapt to new ways of accomplishing tasks. As such, crew downsizing and advancements are part of the natural evolution we have been practicing for some time.

This article discusses the technology that is required to ensure safety of commercial autonomous shipping operations.  The vessel will need to be able to utilize proximity sensors to monitor and evaluate surrounding obstacles and environmental considerations, communicating data to a remote operator, or utilized by onboard computers capable of taking actions based on available inputs. These sensors allow for collision avoidance, and are necessary to help perform complicated functions, such as docking on arrival to a port. Rolls Royce is working on situational awareness systems that use high definition visible light and infrared cameras, along with utilization of LIDAR and RADAR inputs to provide a thorough picture of the ships environment. Additional information available to the autonomous computing system or remote operator would include satellite location data, weather reports and other ships reported information.

There are many benefits to automating commercial shipping vehicles- labor is a significant cost of shipping operations. Automating systems to reduce the manual labor required to support can result in a lower bottom line for companies, translating into lower production prices and those offered to customers. Differencing power systems may evolve, allowing ships to operate and rely less on traditional fuel sources, incorporating electric and solar systems to reduce the carbon footprint. Security would also be positively affected. As shipping routes through dangerous waters patrolled by terrorists is sometimes necessary/more efficient, not having onboard crews that could be held hostage could reduce the likelihood of targeting by these groups. Additionally, ships could be designed to repel these attacks, and make access more difficult, having shipboard controls more secured. Safety would also be positively affected- according to a German insurance company report in 2012, approximately 75 to 96 percent of maritime accidents are human error related, often due to fatigue. Ships could be maintained without the footprint required to support personnel, reducing weight and possibly making the ships design more effective with less wind resistance and reduced fuel consumption.

Several concerns do arise when discussing shipping automation. Concerns for weather events limiting or taking communications/control offline is one possible issue that would need to be addressed. A ship without control capability could put other seafaring vessels at risk in the case of potential physical contact. Additionally, the threat of hacking is another issue that arises. As mentioned in another module, hacking of vehicle systems have been demonstrated recently, leading to concerns that these vehicles/systems could be utilized to support a large scale terrorist type attack, or be used to inflict harm on individual persons or targets.

As shipping plays such a major role in global transport, supporting automated commercial cargo shipping is a good pursuit in my opinion. In the port of Long Beach alone, nearly 6.75 million containers travelled through the port in CY 2016 (Port of Long Beach, 2017).  While many of the laborious jobs may be reduced, as with most other sectors, we will increasingly have to rely on more technologically advanced skills to complete operations. Shifting some of these manual labor jobs to tech monitoring, control and repair/support will help the job market and personal tech skills grow and advance as well.

-Jon

References

Levander, O. (2017, January 28). Forget Autonomous Cars—Autonomous Ships Are Almost Here. Retrieved from https://spectrum.ieee.org/transportation/marine/forget-autonomous-cars-autonomous-ships-are-almost-here

Port of Long Beach. (2017). Port of Long Beach - Yearly TEUs. Retrieved November 5, 2017, from http://www.polb.com/economics/stats/yearly_teus.asp