Few Words On Autonomous Ships

Throughout history, the countries that ruled the seas ruled the world. Seas are important for humanity and the welfare of the countries. It is clear that the future is more autonomous. Therefore, we should put more effort on developing bigger autonomous ships like freighters and cargo ships. This requires close collaboration of different industries. The companies in each sector maybe financially big, but they are very narrow focused and slow on investing on new technologies. A major naval change is only possible with vertically and horizontally collaboration that develop necessary innovative parts to establish this innovation.

In 1960’s such collaboration took humanity to the moon. That goal required so much innovation to be combined together for achievement. When the innovation is delegated mainly to small companies with limited resources, big barriers cannot be overcome. WW2 was ended by the coalition of a big army not by local resistances.

In automotive sector, old companies initially responded to the electric car trend by adding battery and an electric motor to their existing design. This approach failed against the purposefully build electric cars. Same is also true for the ships. Just placing batteries inside an old ship is not the solution. All electric design has advantages and disadvantages. The new designs should utilize the advantages to overcome the disadvantages which would yield a totally different ship.

The ocean-going ships experience giant waves and strong winds on their route. I propose the all-electric cargo ships to be designed as submarines. The effect of waves and wind are considerably dampened under water. Even at 10 meters depth the sea is much calmer. Therefore, a submarine cargo ship that can withstand 1-2 bars of pressure can be a starting point. The ship would mainly cruise over the water when the seas are calm, but dive underwater at bad weather. Most ships have draft less than 20 meters. The diving capability of the autonomous ship would reduce the risk of collusion if it can dive 20 meters.

Floating wind turbines should also be installed on the route of the autonomous ships to recharge them. This requires the development of new wind turbines. Such developments are only possible when the government orchestrates them like in the Apollo program. Once the necessary pieces are created, the expansion would be fast and impactful. The autonomous shipment would be developed for remote islands first. Where the sea traffic is not that high. When the monetary impact is seen, the investments would increase dramatically.

Finally, ship building, offshore wind turbine, autonomous hardware and software development industries should collaborate including the navy to achieve humanities next big step.