The ship's bow, sides, and stern are currently equipped with radar and cameras, and through these sensors, the surrounding conditions are transmitted to the central computer. The AI analyzes the situation and can detect obstacles such as icebergs and automatically avoid them. The control center, located 80 kilometers away from the port, can monitor the operations of multiple ships simultaneously and, if necessary, issue remote commands to adjust the course and speed, making the daunting task of navigation like computer games.
If the unmanned navigation mentioned above is completed in two years, Yara Birkeland will also be the world's first unmanned electric container ship.
Does this scene feel somewhat similar to "US military UAV (Unmanned Ariel Vehicle) operators commanding unmanned drones in the vicinity of the Black Sea conflict zone between Russia and Ukraine, with the most special being the RQ-4 "Global Hawk" drone, which can take off from the United States and reach various parts of the world for reconnaissance, and can monitor continuously for more than 24 hours before returning to base”?
To enable the ground control center to operate in the United States while unmanned aircraft are deployed in the Black Sea region, communication satellites in space are necessary as relay stations for control signals. Additionally, the unmanned aircraft will be equipped with higher-end omnidirectional satellite communication antennas at the front, enabling seamless remote control over distances of thousands of kilometers. For future unmanned cargo ships, if the short-range unmanned navigation within 13 kilometers is extended to long-range navigation across oceans, in addition to sensors such as radars and cameras, omnidirectional satellite communication antennas and connection to communication satellites in space will become necessary equipment for connecting to the control center. Furthermore, the German company "Volocopter" is planning to offer an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) air taxi with 18 rotors for the general public at the Paris Olympics in 2024. This vehicle can be remotely controlled with an iPad and carry two passengers and luggage in the side compartments.
In the visible future, these autonomous flying and shipping vehicles that will replace the high-paying jobs of pilots and sailors will rely not only on advances in chip technology and improvements in various sensor components but also on relevant regulation updates. For example, the automobile industry defined the classification of autonomous driving from Level 0 to Level 5 in 2014 by the Society of Automotive Engineers International (SAE International), and the current UN R157 ALKS (Automated Lane Keeping System) regulations permit Level 3 semi-autonomous driving, where the driver can take their hands off the wheel when conditions allow, to travel at 130 km/h on highways and automatically change lanes when needed. In 2016, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) compiled guidelines for the use of unmanned aerial vehicles and established regulations for the relevant operations of remote-controlled drones. Various countries also have introduced laws and regulations regarding the takeoff weight, flight altitude, flight area, registration, and operators of drones based on their regional characteristics. Similarly, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) differentiated Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS) into four levels based on human intervention and whether the vessel carries a crew, using 10 meters as the standard length for categorizing small and large vessels in 2018. The IMO decided at the Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) in April 2022 to develop voluntary regulations and rules for various levels of MASS before 2025, collect practical experiences and opinions from countries, turn them into mandatory regulations by 2027, and enforce them from 2028 to all IMO member states. The completeness of these regulations is critical to the development of autonomous driving, as human demand for mobility and transportation is ubiquitous everywhere.
However, the development of autonomous driving isn’t always smooth sailing. Embark Trucks, a US autonomous trucking company founded in 2016, faced the risk of bankruptcy in early March of this year. CEO Alex Rodrigues announced a 70% reduction in staff, retaining 30% of employees to wind down the company's operations and gradually reduce its operating scale. Embark had originally planned to achieve commercialization of level 4 autonomous driving on a large scale by 2024. In addition to the company's technological strength transforming into the ability to operate commercially, it is even more crucial to have the cooperation of national laws and traffic infrastructure. Especially since Embark Trucks' main business is large truck transportation that has a huge impact on road safety, and after its listing in June 2021, the company's only commitment to building autonomous driving freight trucks was to North American freight company Knight-Swift to carry out the Los Angeles to Phoenix route. So far, only one vehicle has been delivered, the only delivery Embark has made in its seven years of investment in autonomous driving. Therefore, the claim that Embark had signed contracts with five Fortune 500 companies was debunked by its financial reports after its listing. This year, the headwinds facing autonomous driving in the US stock market are even more apparent. Crunchbaser, an organization that tracks 14 recently listed self-driving car companies, found that their average decline after listing exceeded 80%. The main reason is that these startups cannot find a profitable model in the early stages, including ChatGPT’s popular tech recently. Few companies can explain their actual product landing scenarios and feasible operational business models.
Founded by Professor Amnon Shashua of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel in 1999, Mobileye has always been the preferred supplier of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) for the automotive industry. After being acquired by Intel in 2017, Mobileye became its technology division. It planned to go public in the US at the end of last year, with a valuation of up to $16 billion, far from its original target of $50 billion. Although more than 100 million vehicles worldwide have utilized Mobileye, and its annual revenue has grown at a double-digit rate in recent years, leading its competitors in the field, it still faces challenges in terms of profitability.
We can see that the competition in the autonomous driving industry will not only rely on painting a beautiful vision for the future but also on taking practical steps to develop killer applications that meet the current demands of consumers and comply with the traffic regulations and infrastructure of each country. Only by doing so can companies gain market recognition and create a better future for the industry through their actual profitability.
About the author - Kenny Liu
Graduated from Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Cheng Kung University in 1988, started his auto industry career since July 1990 after two year military service. Starting as a service engineer and a temp technician, product marketing specialist in Peugeot/ Daihatsu, marketing and dealer channel specialist in VW LCV from March 1992, then field manager in GM Taiwan from Feb. 1994, sales and service / parts head in Ford Lio-Ho from Sep. 1998 till retirement in May 2019. Kenny then started to work for JLR Taiwan as sales/service head and consultant/ lecturer. After that, he was invited to work at a Suzuki dealer of Taipei as the general manager until April 2022.