Rolls-Royce is pioneering the development of remote controlled and autonomous ships, applying technology, skills and experience from across its businesses with the ambition of seeing a remote controlled ship in commercial use by the end of the decade (illustration: Rolls-Royce)

Rolls-Royce and Tampere University of Technology, Finland, have announced a strategic partnership to develop and test the technology to support systems necessary for autonomous navigation, enabling the first generation of autonomous ships.

The partners will work towards developing and validating technologies using the University’s purpose built autonomous ship simulator.

Tampere University of Technology has extensive research expertise in intelligent machines and networked systems. The University’s research into autonomous systems looks at how huge quantities of data can be analysed, processed, and transferred, signal processing and human machine interaction. The University already has extensive experience of researching autonomous control systems in other industries most notably the mining and automotive sectors.

Karno Tenovuo, Rolls-Royce, Senior Vice President Ship Intelligence, says, “Rolls-Royce is pioneering remotely controlled and autonomous ships and believes such a remote controlled ship will be in commercial use by the end of the decade. Tampere University of Technology is an innovative and experienced partner who can help us develop autonomous systems that will redefine shipping.”

Dr Kuosmanen, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering Sciences, Tampere University of Technology, says, “We have been working with Rolls-Royce, in the AAWA Project, on the development of remote controlled and autonomous ships since 2015. This collaboration moves us a step closer to making our vision of an autonomous vessel in operation a reality in the near future.”

Tags: Rolls-Royce, Tampere University of Technology