China Enters the Autonomous/Drone Shipping Arena

Eyebrows have been raised and shouts of returning to the heady days of the space race have been heard after Naval Defence Consulting released its report on China's lead in the autonomous/drone shipping arena.

Naval Defence Consulting’s review identified that way back in 2013 China formed The “Marine Equipment Information Intelligent Management and Application Technology Innovation Centre”. The centre focuses on the core technology development of smart ships.

In May 2015 The national initiative “Made in China 2025” was issued by their State Council to guide the next 10 years’ industry development with the focus on intelligent manufacturing. Smart ships are highlighted in the strategy level as “shipping industry 4.0”.

In August 2015 China’s State Council published “Programs of Action for Promoting Big Data”, which indicate the big data officially becomes the core national strategy and it would be extensively explored and utilised in the forthcoming development of smart ships.

Unofficial reports have indicated that in September 2016 China commenced construction of the smart ship with planned launch early 2017.

Key features of the Chinese smart ship project which appear to be ahead of western projects include: Real time sensor data fusion; Autonomous analysis; prediction and optimisation of decision based on the big data; Ship to shore communication, including shore-based monitoring, controlling and remote maintenance; Underlying intelligent platform to provide value of the whole life cycle of vessels.

Naval Defence Consulting recently produced a global review of current autonomous/drone shipping projects, where China has been identified as a strong leader with massive financial and government backing.

Naval Defence Consulting
Minderbroedersberg
Maastricht Netherlands

This release was published on openPR.