Worlds First Autonomous Ship to Launch in 2018

[HAB911]

A crewless ship to be christened the Yara Birkeland is expected to start sailing in 2018, initially delivering fertilizer along a 37-mile route in southern Norway.

The electric-powered ship will be miniscule by modern standards, with the capacity for 100 to 150 shipping containers. But its arrival could be a huge turning point for the global shipping industry.

The ship, according to the Wall Street Journal, will cost $25 million, about three times as much as a conventional ship of similar size, but will save up to 90% in annual operating costs by eliminating both fuel and crew.

Though it is projected to launch next year, it will transition to fully autonomous operation only in stages. It will first be operated by an onboard crew, then remotely, before becoming fully self-guided by 2020. That is around the time rules governing autonomous ships are expected to be in place.

http://fortune.com/2017/07/22/first-autonomous-ship-yara-birkeland/

[Binkie The Clown]

1. Not so. I built an autonomous ship in 1952.

I put it in the lake and turned it on and it decided to run away from home, all by itself. $2 worth of perfectly good balsa wood, a motor and a D-cell battery and I never saw it again. That was the last time I ever blew my allowance on autonomous vehicles.

[eppur_se_muova]

2. "... by eliminating ... fuel ... " Um, say what ??

That needs clarification. The ship still needs energy, where's the electricity coming from ?

[SCantiGOP]

3. In a related story:

Pirate robots look to new opportunities.