Friday, April 15, 2016

Rolls-Royce: Drone ships will be operational by 2020





Remote-controlled "drone ships" will be plying the ocean's trade lanes without crews on board by the end of the decade, according to the head of the Rolls-Royce marine division.

The company is heading a consortium that's working on the technology needed for ships controlled from land bases, to make them cheaper to run.

"This is happening. It's not a question of if, it's a question of when," said Oskar Levander, head of innovation for Rolls's marine unit. "We will see a remote controlled ship in commercial use by the end of the decade."

He predicted the system could turn ships into
a seaborne version of car service Uber, with
the potential to radically change the current

shipping sector.

"Drone ships will allow the creation of new services, which will support existing players to make their businesses more efficient and enable new entrants with new business models to the sector, with a potentially similarly disruptive effect to that caused by Uber, Spotify and Airbnb in other industries."

Backed by Tekes, Finland's technical research funding agency, Rolls is working with offshore engineer Deltamarin, marine certification body DNV GL and Inmarsat on the Advanced Autonomous Waterborne Applications project.

For more of the Telegraph story: www.telegraph.co.uk


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