DECEMBER 2017 • FOGHORN 25 SPECIALREPORT Ship Intelligence said, “While intel- ligent awareness systems will help to facilitate an autonomous future, they can benefit maritime businesses right now making vessels and their crews safer and more efficient. By working with Google Cloud we can make these systems better faster, saving lives.” The autonomization of the shipping industry does seem to make sense to some degree. In its most simplis- tic state, cargo ships are loaded with containers at one port, sent to sea, and then unloaded several thousands of nautical miles later at a different port. Surely there will be challenges, but they should not be insurmountable. The passenger vessel industry, of course, is quite different. Still, if the au- tomotive industry is intent on building driverless vehicles, it’s only a matter of time before passenger vessels are also autonomous. Turns out, that time is now. In September, a Norwegian company, Kongsberg Gruppen, announced it signed a research and innovation contract with technology acceleration organization PILOT-E for the development of zero emission, full- electric, autonomous ferry concepts. The overall vision for the PILOT-E Autonomous Ferry concept is to develop a state-of-the-art ferry as an in- tegrated, zero emission aspect of a total national transportation plan. “The stakes are high and the autonomy vision is materializing as we speak. The PILOT-E Autonomous Ferry project introduces a new mindset encouraging us to look beyond the traditional organizational setup,” said An-Magritt Tinlund Ryste, Project Manager, Kongsberg Maritime on September 5. What does the future hold regarding autonomous passenger vessels? There are so many questions, scenarios, policies, regulations, and legal issues to be addressed before the U.S. embraces a fleet of commer- cial passenger vessels. The conversa- tions are starting and the technology is advancing at a rapid rate so that that it’s likely that sooner, rather than later, autonomous passenger vessels will be plying America’s waterways. n Learn More in Savannah, GA Two sessions on autonomous ferries will be presented at the PVAAnnual Convention at MariTends 2018, which will be held January 28-31, 2018: • Autonomous Vessels Are Coming; Airborne Drones Are Here • Safety and Reliability of Autonomous Vessels Register online now for the PVAAnnual Convention at MariTrends 2018 at www.passengervessel.com/SitePages/maritrends.html