Rolls Royce plans unmanned “ships of the future”

Rolls Royce has unveiled a futuristic vision of land-based control centres designed to remotely monitor and control unmanned "ships of the future".

The Rolls Royce team imagine a small crew of seven to 14 people controlling the operation of a fleet of vessels across the world.

The company explained that the crew would use interactive smart screens, voice recognition systems, holograms and surveillance drones to monitor what is happening both on board and around the ship.

"We're living in an ever-changing world where unmanned and remote-controlled transportation systems will become a common feature of human life," said Iiro Lindborg, General Manager, remote and autonomous operations, ship intelligence, Rolls Royce.

"They offer unprecedented flexibility and operational efficiency. Our research aims to understand the human factors involved in monitoring and operating ships remotely. It identifies ways crews ashore can use tools to get a realistic feel for what is happening at sea."

Rolls Royce has said it is now ready to begin designing and constructing a project demonstrator that will be ready before the end of this decade. An effective remote operations centre is essential to the company's plans to develop autonomous and remote controlled vessels.

The research was undertaken by the Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT) and the University of Tampere's Tampere Unit for Computer Human Interaction (TAUCHI) in collaboration with Rolls Royce.

It focused on the lessons learned from other industries where remote operation is commonplace, such as aviation, energy, defence, and space exploration.