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Rolls-Royce is to lead the new EUR 6.6 million Advanced Autonomous Waterborne Applications Initiative to produce the specification and preliminary designs for the next generation of advanced ship solutions, which could pave the way for autonomous ships.

The project is funded by Tekes (Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation) and will bring together universities, ship designers, equipment manufacturers, and classification societies to explore the economic, social, legal, regulatory and technological factors which need to be addressed to make autonomous ships a reality.

The project will run until the end of 2017 and will pave the way for solutions - designed to validate the project’s research. The project will combine the expertise of some of Finland’s academic researchers from Tampere University of Technology; VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd; Åbo Akademi University; Aalto University; the University of Turku; and members of the maritime cluster including Rolls-Royce, NAPA, Deltamarin, DNV GL and Inmarsat.

”This project is a fantastic opportunity to establish the Finnish maritime cluster as the world leader in maritime remote control technology,” Rauli Hulkkonen, Tekes, Chief Advisor, said.

The project will look at research carried out to date before exploring the business case for autonomous applications, the safety and security implications of designing and operating remotely operated ships, the legal and regulatory implications and the existence and readiness of a supplier network able to deliver commercially applicable products in the short to medium term.

The technological work stream will encompass the implications of remote control and autonomy of ships for propulsion, deck machinery and automation and control, using, where possible, established technology for rapid commercialisation.