Transportation Today Confronting New Challenges

USA TODAY SPECIAL EDITION 1 TRANSPORTATION TODAY CONFRONTING NEW CHALLENGES ❚ Infrastructure: How to ❚ Ports: Autonomous ❚ Industry career and pay for new projects? ships on the horizon education opportunities USA TODAY SPECIAL EDITION 59 60 USA TODAY SPECIAL EDITION ‘Self-driving’ tech See SHIPS, heads out to sea Page 60 An artist’s rendering of an autonomous ship developed by Rolls-Royce. The company hopes to have a remote-operated tug or ferry on the water by 2020. ROLLS-ROYCE The International Maritime Organiza- board would likely have very low levels of Shipping industry sees automation tion (IMO), which regulates interna- waste such as sewage or garbage to deal tional shipping, has identifed four de- with,” she says. “An autonomous ship as inevitable next step in evolution grees of autonomy for ships: designed to use low-carbon or zero-car- ❚ Ships with some automated opera- bon fuel is going to beneft the environ- Stacey Zable, Special to USA TODAY tions and a crew on board. ment in terms of lower emissions.” ❚ Ships that are remotely controlled As far as the negatives of autonomous s with other forms of transportation, technology is enabling from another location with a crew on ships, Brown says: “I think a number of board. issues need to be looked at, including the development of ships that can get from point A to point B ❚ Ships that are remotely controlled how an incident at sea or breakdown all on their own. The maritime industry, both in the private without any crew aboard. could be handled, as well as liability and ❚ Fully autonomous ships that operate compensation issues.” sector and government, is working to set standards for au- completely independent of human crew. Balzano notes that reports indicate A The IMO is conducting a scoping exer- the majority of maritime accidents are tonomous ships and understand what the evolution of shipping means. ❚ cise, to be completed by 2020, that looks rooted in human error. “Self-driving and “ ‘Self-driving’ ships efectively already exist,” says Richard Balzano, dep- at the safety, security and environmental more automated ships will greatly re- soundness of autonomous ships, says duce the hazards of the working environ- uty administrator of the Department of Transportation’s Maritime Ad- Natasha Brown, a spokeswoman for the ment in the maritime industry,” he says. ministration. “Every commercial and most pleasure yachts already have organization. “Increased efciency will save operating Though the IMO is a few years away cost and enable the system to be more autopilots, which is a form of automation. The next step is to input the from any fndings coming out of the exer- productive and competitive.” entire route of a voyage into the system, relying on GPS, and let the ship cise, Brown did note that self-driving Bufalo Automation, based in Bufalo, ships can lead to environmental bene- N.Y., is creating technology to assist ship A boat with Buffalo Automation’s marine autopilot technology goes for a test run on Lake LaSalle at the University at Buffalo. DOUGLAS LEVERE, UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO navigate with only human oversight.” fts. “A ship without people at all on crews similar to aircraft autopilots. It has USA TODAY SPECIAL EDITION 61 Research and development con- tinues. “Big ships operating in fully autonomous mode could be some years away, perhaps decades,” Brown says. “For now, fully autonomous ships are small, while most predictions are that autonomous or semi-autonomous oper- ation would be limited to short voyages, for example from one specifc port to another, across a short distance.” Rolls-Royce demonstrated its frst public remote-controlled vessel in No- vember 2017 at its Remote Operations Centre in Copenhagen, Denmark. The company’s Research & Development Centre for Autonomous Ships opened in Turku, Finland, in January. It expects to have its frst remote autonomous ship in the water before 2020, according to Os- kar Levander, senior vice president for concepts and innovation at Rolls- Royce’s Marine division, based in Turku. “That will be something small like a tug or a ferry,” he says. Boston-based Sea Machines Robotics was expecting to bring its Sea Machines 300 system to market in the third quarter of 2018. The system “provides autonomous and remote-vessel command for all types of commercial craft 6 to 35 me- ters in length, including rugged work- Thiru Vikram of Buffalo Automation says self-driving ships could bring many benefts, including improved safety through boats and utility craft, persistent survey better monitoring of hazards and threats, and fuel savings from more efficient routes. DOUGLAS LEVERE, UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO and surveillance vessels, and high- speed response craft,” says Michael G. Johnson, the company’s founder and a product called AutoMate that “enables associated now with larger feets. Small- CEO. The system is already on the water ships to chart and navigate a path from er vessels can reach more parts of the aboard Tuco boats in Denmark and other one port to another. [It] detects threats “In the distant future, when country even in shallow waterways, be- craft involved in pilot programs. along the chosen route through onboard coming a viable alternative to trains and Johnson says technology “will enable sensors, cameras and wireless commu- unmanned ships become a trucks.” maritime industries to take cargo back nications,” says Bufalo Automation CEO possibility, America’s ports Of course, if ships are sailing without from the crowded roads, increase transit Thiru Vikram. AutoMate currently can- crews, that means lost jobs in the indus- speeds to compete with air travel, and not be used for unmanned vessels; crew- and waterways will have a try. Brown of the IMO responds that open the doors to vast ocean farms of members are still needed for such things “new technology sometimes creates jobs food and energy.” as engine maintenance and emergency renaissance.” as well as disrupts jobs.” He adds that his systems are “helping frefghting, Vikram says. Thiru Vikram, Balzano says the new technology will to shape a new era of maritime. For cen- In addition to improving the safety of CEO, Buffalo Automation “improve the quality of life of the men turies leading up to the 20th century, the commercial shipping and recreational and women working in the industry,” al- maritime industries and those that cre- boating, AutoMate is able to save fuel by though “the shift will require a change in ated it were at the forefront of human calculating more efcient routes, Vikram manned ships become a possibility, skill sets.” He adds: “It is important that technology in each of their respective says. The company is testing its technol- America’s ports and waterways will have the industry adapt to the changes and ages. We aim to bring that spirit of inge- ogy on freighters in the Great Lakes and a renaissance,” Vikram says. “Vessels update maritime workforce training to nuity, innovation, and technological in- speedboats in Bufalo. can become smaller as ship operators ensure no one is left behind and that vestment and exploration back to the “In the distant future, when un- will not have to bear increased crew costs workforce disruptions are minimized.” seas.”.

Load more