Japan recently completed testing the vessel with the world’s first fully autonomous navigation system for this category of transport. The ferry covered a stretch of 240 km in the Lyonda Sea, in Japan, at a speed of 48 km/h and managed to carry out the berthing procedures at the end of the trip, all in a fully autonomous way.
The initiative was jointly carried out by the Nippon Foundation with its subsidiary Mitsubishi Shipbuilding and the shipping company Shin Nihonkai Ferry. The demonstration is part of a project that began in February 2020 through the MEGURI 2040 program, a plan to accelerate the development of autonomous vessels.
soleil
The 222-meter-long vessel known as the Soleil used the Super-Bridge-X autonomous navigation system, developed by Mitsubishi Shipbuilding, to carry out the operation. The system has a diversion function that helps the ship avoid any obstacles in its path, in addition to allowing automatic berthing and unberthing.
Want to stay on top of the best tech news of the day? Access and subscribe to our new youtube channel, Kenyannews News. Every day a summary of the main news from the tech world for you!
Soleil has also been equipped with an image analysis system, allowing it to detect obstacles and other vessels in low visibility situations through a high-precision sensor with infrared cameras.
“The recent test of the ferry has greatly accelerated the development of fully autonomous naval navigation systems and marks a significant step towards safer coastal navigation,” said Naoki Ueda, vice president of Mitsubishi Shipbuilding.
According to the company, the project is also developing several other essential technologies for promoting navigation without the need for human intervention, including advanced data security platforms to protect navigation data, used for monitoring and support on the ground.
Mitsubishi Shipping isn’t alone in the race to make ships more self-sufficient, luxury car maker Rolls Royce has also been working with Intel to develop a full fleet of fully autonomous cargo ships by 2025.
