Japan’s NYK Group has announced that its research subsidiary Monohakobi Technology Institute (MTI) has joined One Sea Autonomous Ship Alliance, making it the first Asian member of the alliance.
Launched in Finland in 2016, One Sea Autonomous Ship Alliance aims to create an environment suitable for autonomous ships by 2025 through discussion and the development of a roadmap, international rules and technology standards.
The alliance now comprises of nine corporate members ABB, Cargotec, Ericsson, Inmarsat, Kongsberg Maritime, MTI, Tieto, Wärtsilä and Finnpilot Pilotage.
“With the perspective of a shipping company dedicated to improving the safety of ship operations, we aim to develop “manned autonomous ships,” in which computers complement human factors, and thus have continued research and development in cooperation with global partners. We will contribute to the development of rules and technology standards via One Sea activities wherein international parties gather to promote the social implementation of autonomous ships,” MTI said in a release.
One Sea members ABB, Kongsberg Maritime and Wärtsilä ran separate autonomous ship trials off the Finnish and Norwegian coasts in 2018. Finnish regulators have authorised One Sea to oversee future trials in Jaakonmeri off western Finland – the first dedicated test zone worldwide.