Following the launch earlier
this year of its vision of landbased
control centres for
autonomous vessels, Rolls-
Royce has revealed plans for
fleets of ‘drone ships’ to carry
cargo around the world.
The company believes
an entirely unmanned ship
could take to the seas by
2020. Vice president of
marine innovation at the
company, Oskar Levander,
said: “This is happening. It’s
not if, it’s when.”
The Rolls Royce vision is
that a small crew of seven
to 14 people will monitor
and control the operation
of a fleet of vessels across
the world. “The crew will
use interactive smart
screens, voice recognition
systems, holograms and
surveillance drones to
monitor what is happening
both on board and around
the ship,” said Iiro Lindborg,
general manager, remote
& autonomous operations,
Rolls-Royce.
“We’re living in an everchanging
world where
unmanned and remotecontrolled
transportation
systems will become a
common feature of human
life.”
According to Lindborg,
the unmanned vessels
offer “unprecedented”
flexibility and operational
efficiency. “Our research
aims to understand the
human factors involved in
monitoring and operating
ships remotely. It identifies
ways crews ashore can use
tools to get a realistic feel for
what is happening at sea,”
he said.
CAPTION
The autonomous ship Rolls Royce envisions.
Autonomous ships on the seas by 2020?
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