To subscribe, advertise or contribute articles to smartmanufacturingtoday.com contact publisher@xtra.co.nz

  • Home
  • Newswire
  • Contact us
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • About
Smart Manufacturing Today
Your source of info
  • Home
  • Additive Manufacturing
  • AI
  • Big Data
  • Business
  • The Circular Economy
  • Computer Integrated Manufacturing
  • Developments
  • Events
  • Featured
  • Future Technologies
  • Internet of Things
  • Latest News
  • Manufacturing Software
  • Manufacturing Technology
  • Product Design
  • Robotics
  • PLM & CAD/CAM
  • Profiles
  • Supply Chain
  • Sustainability
  • The Creative Class
  • Workshop Tools

News Ticker

Smarter growth, lower risk: Rethinking how new factories are built
  Countries successfully growing their manufacturing – and what they are doing right
BW Converting launches e-learning platform for enhanced customer training
Manufacturing and Production Industry is Fighting a 41% Increase in Ransomware Attacks over Four Years
CT Semiconductor Inaugurates ATP Chip Semiconductor Training Center
Energy Experts on AI Tools for Building’s Sustainability:“Triple Win for Businesses, People, and Planet”
FactoryTalk DataMosaix puts data at the centre
How leveraging smart factories optimises products and operations for manufacturers

Forget driverless cars: sailorless ships are about to make waves

 

forget-driverless-picSea change … unmanned electric cargo ships could be with us in three years.

Norwegian company Yara will launch the world’s first electric cargo ship next year. Initially manned, the vessel will move to remote control in 2019, before becoming totally autonomous in 2020.

Named Yara Birkeland, the vessel will sail between Yara’s main factory facility in Norway to some of the country’s bigger ports, carrying cargo which is currently transported by road. It’s estimated that the battery-powered ship will remove the need for 40,000 truck journeys a year.

Making ‘drone’ ships a reality

Although advances in driverless cars are getting more media attention, major advances have already been made in bringing artificial intelligence to the shipping and freight industries.

Rolls Royce is also working on making autonomous ships a reality by the end of the decade, in conjunction with ship builders and researchers in Finland. Meanwhile, research body MUNIN – or Maritime Unmanned Navigation through Intelligence in Networks – has been part funded by the European Commission to develop the technology needed to make robotic ships.

Back on land, Singapore earlier this year signed an agreement with trucking companies Scania and Toyota Tsusho to design, develop and build self-driving freight lorries to haul containers from one port to another. The idea would see one truck with a driver leading a convoy of driverless trucks; it’s being billed as a way to reduce congestion and boost productivity in the country’s already efficient ports.

In 2016, a fleet of trucks from a host of leading manufacturers including Volvo and Daf drove their freight across Europe largely without drivers as part of a mission under the Dutch presidency of the EU to prove the potential of AI in the haulage industry.

In a report into the driverless car revolution, the World Economic Forum estimated that $2 billion worth of value would shift from traditional cars to self-driving ones, and these would make up 5% of vehicle sales by 2025.

 

Share this:

Related Posts

Open source

Developments /

Open source technology in the age of AI

AMA gets PIC

Featured /

Your company’s visionaries are wrong about the Internet of Things

Jessica-Cheam-532x600

Developments /

Trillions to be unlocked in sustainable investment opportunities in Asia 

‹ Exponential Manufacturing Revolution› Letting our capes fly: Why engineers are awesome

18th May 2025

Recent Posts

  • Open source technology in the age of AI
  • Trillions to be unlocked in sustainable investment opportunities in Asia 
  • Trump’s tariff: A test to Malaysia’s trade resilience
  • Smarter growth, lower risk: Rethinking how new factories are built
  • Zenno Astronautics and ANA Trading rollout superconducting space technologies in Japan

Categories

  • 3D Printing
  • Additive Manufacturing
  • AI
  • Big Data
  • Business
  • Computer Integrated Manufacturing
  • Developments
  • Events
  • Featured
  • Future Technologies
  • Internet of Things
  • Latest News
  • Manufacturing Software
  • Manufacturing Technology
  • PLM & CAD/CAM
  • Product Design
  • Robotics
  • Supply Chain
  • Sustainability
  • The Circular Economy
  • The Creative Class
  • Uncategorized
  • Workshop Tools

Back to Top

  • Home
  • Additive Manufacturing
  • AI
  • Big Data
  • Business
  • The Circular Economy
  • Computer Integrated Manufacturing
  • Developments
  • Events
  • Featured
  • Future Technologies
  • Internet of Things
  • Latest News
  • Manufacturing Software
  • Manufacturing Technology
  • Product Design
  • Robotics
  • PLM & CAD/CAM
  • Profiles
  • Supply Chain
  • Sustainability
  • The Creative Class
  • Workshop Tools

To subscribe, advertise or contribute articles to smartmanufacturingtoday.com contact publisher@xtra.co.nz

(c) Smart Manufacturing Today, 2025