2025 Unmanned Cargo Ships program (Japan)

Grey Havoc

Grey Havoc

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http://asia.nikkei.com/Tech-Science/Tech/Japan-aims-to-launch-self-piloting-ships-by-2025
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-40219682
 
Sounds like the perfect pirate victim.
 
...and bridge rammer, buoy marker mangler, powered navigational hazard....
 
FWIW the various discussions that I have had with industry revolve not around "how" or "when" but rather "why". There is a feeling that, on balance, the crews of modern cargo vessels are so small that it may not be worth the investment in additional systems to remove the crews. Of course, uninhabited systems in general have had similar things said about them.

There's also the idea that a crewless cargo ship operating on some fixed route with short leg lengths, in controlled waters may become operational quite soon, purely because the natural constraints on operations make concerns about automation moot anyway. This is part of the Norwegian interest.
 
Rolls-Royce is in

the autonomous shipping game as well, though the effort is tucked under their "Ship Intelligence" banner. Rougly the same timeline as with the Japanese. There seems to be a more or less concerted effort to get marine conventions, regulations and such up to date for the introduction. My guess is this won't solely be a steering, navigation and management solution but that infrastructure, logistics and ship design itself will be affected beyond just removing crew facilities.

http://gcaptain.com/rolls-royce-to-open-remote-controlled-and-autonomous-shipping-center-in-finland/
https://www.rolls-royce.com/media/press-releases/yr-2017/08-03-2017-rr-announces-investment-in-research.aspx
http://www.rolls-royce.com/~/media/Files/R/Rolls-Royce/documents/customers/marine/ship-intel/rr-ship-intel-aawa-8pg.pdf
https://www.rolls-royce.com/products-and-services/marine/ship-intelligence.aspx#section-overview1
http://spectrum.ieee.org/transportation/marine/forget-autonomous-cars-autonomous-ships-are-almost-here
 
The Norwegians are trying to steal a march: https://www.wsj.com/articles/norway-takes-lead-in-race-to-build-autonomous-cargo-ships-1500721202
 
Self driving ships ?...
...Hacker Paradiese !

NEWS FLASH
Hackers control Super Tanker demand 100 million bitcoins, other wise the Tanker crash into nearest nature reserve...
 
.

Recent experience may put the Japanese off.

A highly automated, minimally manned freighter operating perfectly correctly was in collision with one of the most sophisticated military vessels. State of the art sensors, numerous and highly trained bridge crew, much superior speed and maneuverability - only problem is it was the warship's fault !

How are automated ships going to be protected from humans ?

.
 
Grey Havoc said:
The Norwegians are trying to steal a march: https://www.wsj.com/articles/norway-takes-lead-in-race-to-build-autonomous-cargo-ships-1500721202
Click to expand...
tech.slashdot.org

First Electric Autonomous Cargo Ship Launched In Norway - Slashdot

Zero emissions and, soon, zero crew: the world's first fully electric autonomous cargo vessel was unveiled in Norway, a small but promising step toward reducing the maritime industry's climate footprint. TechXplore reports: By shipping up to 120 containers of fertilizer from a plant in the...
tech.slashdot.org
 
dan_inbox said:
Shouldn't this thread be in the Military section rather than in unbuilt?
Click to expand...
As yet, there are no autonomous cargo ships on the oceans, so it's still a project. And as this section isn't related to military
projects only, and the main theme here are civil cargo ships, I think, we can leave it here.
 
Self-driving cars have nothing on Japan’s self-captaining ships (FT Magazine / The Financial Times)

Early last Saturday morning, from a cliff top at the tip of the Miura peninsula, I watched the Mikage slip into Tokyo Bay en route to the port of Funabashi. It was grimy from nautical toil and decidedly ugly on the eye, but there are few more thrilling ships out on the seas.

And if you like your gadgetry game-changing but also attractive to barnacles and a challenge to the idea that Silicon Valley has a pre-eminent right to define “tech”, the Mikage is a real treat. In January, the 313ft-long coastal container ship chugged into history when it successfully docked at Sakai port after a two-day, 161-nautical mile sail from Tsuruga. It was the first merchant ship on this scale to make such a voyage entirely autonomously and, crucially, without a human soul aboard to jump on to the controls if things went wrong.

Worldwide, the race to perfect fully autonomous operations for large commercial vessels is intense, and arguably of far greater practical importance, than that for self-driving cars. The Mikage’s achievement came just seven days after another Japanese shipbuilder demonstrated the first fully autonomous journey of Soleil, a 15,500 ton, 730ft car ferry. The breakthrough claimed by the Mikage is that, in addition to the voyage itself, it handled the intricate business of docking and undocking entirely without a crew. (In another first, it integrated the assistance of drones.)

All this innovation makes immediate and pressing sense for Japan, a country with a rapidly shrinking population and one of the world’s three biggest merchant fleets. For an archipelago of more than 6,500 islands, ships are critical infrastructure.

In this unexpectedly white-hot realm of tech, crowns for innovation are changing hands all the time. Next for an upgrade is a 5,000-year-old piece of tech, the humble sail. In October, an as yet unnamed 770ft coal carrier owned by Mitsui OSK is due to become the world’s first such vessel to include a rigid, winged sail in its propulsion system.

In an era of energy price inflation and ever more ambitious climate change targets, the idea of exploiting freely available sea breezes has graduated from interesting to imperative. Other companies around the world, including the tyre giant Michelin, have been developing ideas along similar lines, but Japan’s – a retractable sail made of fibre-reinforced plastic that sits at the ship’s prow and can extend to 15 metres wide and 50m high – will be the first to go into service.

Fossil-fuelled shipping accounts for 3 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, but Mitsui estimates the sail will cut diesel consumption on these vast ships by an average of 5 per cent a year. It says it plans to add the sails to as many of its fleet as possible and will sell the tech to rival carriers to use on their vessels.

When bringing tech on this scale from the drawing board to a 100,000 ton ship, the hurdles are not just technical. (The sail, which has been in development since 2009, owes its low weight to advanced plastics and its function to ever more powerful weather-analysing software, which dictates the positioning and size of sail as the wind changes.) They are also about willpower and large-scale corporate investment.

In recent years, Japan’s powers as a global technology leader have been called into question many times, often by itself and often because of the disproportionate adulation that certain types of technology (particularly consumer-facing) receive at the expense of the kind of tech in which Japan still excels. The majesty of the Mikage is a reminder that it may be time to steer a different course.
Click to expand...
 
A modern cargo ship only has about 12 people onboard. And I mean a supertanker or NeoPANAMAX or SuezMAX container ship.

That's all they need in terms of operational staff. Captain, Chief Engineer, 3 Lookouts, 3 helmsmen, 3 engineers, and usually a cook. For Japan specifically, where it is very difficult for foreign workers to get a job, going to unmanned ships for intercoastal shipping makes sense.

I'm not sure it makes sense for any other nation.
 

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