Our Take
Rolls-Royce has unveiled its Advanced Autonomous Waterborne Applications Initiative (AAWA), which seeks to create remotely-piloted and autonomous commercial ships that could streamline maritime commerce. As with many other technologies, this could be an example of industry-driven innovation that has immediate practical military application. If Rolls-Royce can perfect a technology that makes ships robotic, iron out the bugs and make money on it in the commercial sector, it will be that much more hassle-free for the Navy to adopt the technology for applications like its new remote mine hunting vessel.
The Navy also increasingly is called upon to police global maritime commerce hubs like the Straits of Malacca, where its vessels will need to at least cooperate if not interoperate with commercial traffic.
Rolls-Royce’s Advanced Autonomous Waterborne Applications Initiative (AAWA) project has unveiled its vision for how remote and autonomous drone ships will become a reality. The project’s first year findings were presented at a conference at Helsinki’s Finlandia Hall last week. “Autonomous shipping is the future of the maritime industry.
