If you thought an autonomous taxi was impressive, what about a passenger ferry operated remotely from 600 kilometers (or 372 miles) away?
Offshore Energy reported on MF Estelle, a Swedish vessel, that an operator in Trondheim, Norway, guided across a lake from Stockholm's island of Kungsholmen to the city's biggest island, Södermalm.
"The trial was the first ever of its kind and showed that it is possible," said Håkan Burden, a researcher at RISE Research Institutes of Sweden. With a "push of a button," the vessel made the journey seamlessly with no needed intervention from an on-board deck officer.
Autonomy engineer Carl Petersson told New Atlas that the successful demonstration was "a huge step towards our vision, where we can have the captain sitting in a remote operations center on land, instead of on the vessel itself."
The boat's journey was monitored from Norway with screens showing live camera views, its bridge system and operator interface.
The specs of the boat make the feat even more impressive.
The 39-feet carbon fiber catamaran was built with sustainability in mind. The 25-passenger ferry is powered by onboard solar panels and features four thrusters and a 188-kilowatt-hour battery that can operate the ship for up to 15 hours at its service speed of seven miles per hour, per New Atlas.
Autonomous boating is another exciting development in the rapidly evolving maritime sector. An innovative propulsion system including compressed air could dramatically lower pollution. Electric hydrofoil boats and ferries that suspend over the water are turning heads globally.
Solar-powered electric boats like the MF Estelle can make a major difference in reducing pollution. Similarly, hydrogen-powered boats like those hitting the waters of San Francisco can also play a huge role in making the shift from dirty energy to clean energy on the seas.
Up next for the MF Estelle is enabling two-way communication between the ferry and the command center with 5G service. Additionally, neighboring country Norway is looking to get into autonomous ferries and plans to roll out its own in 2025.
The company behind the vessel, Zeabuz, is also looking to expand upon its uses of autonomous technology in the seas.
"We aim to change the way we think about mobility by creating shortcuts in cities, utilizing urban waterways as virtual bridges," said Zeabuz CEO Erik Dyrkoren.
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