Autonomous Vessels Down the Line

In an effort to deploy the available automation and artificial intelligence technologies for the enhancement of safety in shipping, Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK) and MTI Co. Ltd. proceeded in the trial application of the «Automatic Ship Target Recognition System», developed by the company Orca AI Ltd., in an NYK managed vessel.

This new technology is utilizing a camera, which records day and night, and automatically recognizes other vessels or objects that may be overlooked by the human eye, especially at night and in congested waters. It measures the distance in between with the ship while at the same time, all data that have been collected from the vessel’s navigation systems can be presented along with the recorded content on a screen for fine monitoring. Capable of identifying small fishing boats and buoys which are not discoverable on the radar and not registered in AIS, and it will notify the crew on duty to avoid a collision.

Through artificial intelligence, the collected data are analyzed on the Orca AI server while using machine learning and continuous operation, the system’s performance is constantly improving. The recorded data can be replayed concurrently to provide optimized monitoring of the ship’s movement remotely.

Additionally, the Automatic Ship Target Recognition System was installed on domestic vessels, fishing boats, fishing gear, and buoys peculiar to Japan for the particular goal of collecting information on the Japanese coast.