Rolls-Royce Eyes Autonomous Ships, Expects Remote-Controlled Cargo Ships By 2020 (pcmag.com)

An anonymous reader writes from a report via PC Magazine: Speaking at a recent symposium in Amsterdam, Rolls-Royce vice president of innovation for marine, Oskar Levander, said, "The technologies needed to make remote and autonomous ships a reality exist." In partnership with the Advanced Autonomous Waterborne Applications Initiative (AAWA) project, Rolls-Royce, DNV GL, Inmarsat, Deltamarin, NAPA, Brighthouse Intelligence, Finferries, and ESL Shipping are leading the $7 million effort. Unmanned ships could save money, weight, and space, making way for more cargo and improving reliability and productivity, the AAWA said in a recent white paper. "The increased level of safety onboard will be provided by additional systems," Rolls-Royce said on its website. "Our future solutions will reduce need for human-machine interaction by automating selected tasks and processes, whilst keeping the human at the center of critical decision making and onboard expertise." Initial testing of sensor arrays in a range of operating and climatic conditions is already underway in Finland. Phase II of the project will continue through the end of 2017. Rolls-Royce plans to launch the first remote-controlled cargo ships by 2020, with autonomous boats in the water within the next two decades. Rolls-Royce was in the news last week when they unveiled their first driverless vehicle called The Vision Next 100.

Comments

Military Involved

[JimSadler]

You can bet your last penny that the Navy and naval forces around the world are already onto this idea. In essence a man ship acts as a tow and tender until somewhat near the conflict point. Then a sort of automated battle barge goes under its own power a couple of hundred miles and assumes a position and holds it. The design probably allows waves to slosh over the deck and has sides meant to deflect torpedoes. An example could be to control the entrance to a harbor. It could also be well equipped with missiles and drones to attack cities. I also would not be shocked if these battle barges are not able to sit silently on the ocean floor until ordered to rise to the surface and take action. Since no human life support is required they can sit in total silence for quite a long time if need be. It keeps troops out of harm's way and can effectively kill enemies. I would think that several Navies are already far along with something along these lines.