{mprestriction ids="1,2"}The new Research & Development Centre for Autonomous Ships includes a ‘remote and autonomous experience space’ aimed at showcasing the autonomous ship technologies Rolls-Royce has already introduced, as well as those currently in the development stage.

The new centre opened exactly six years to the day after Rolls-Royce launched its first-ever autonomous ship development project, UXUS (User Experience for Complex Systems).

“There is great global interest in autonomous vehicles and vessels as a future means of transport. The opening of the Rolls-Royce Research & Development Centre for Autonomous Ships (in) Turku, a maritime city with a history of technological innovation, will help achieve our goal of digitalising the country’s transport sector,” said Finnish Minister of Transport and Communications, Anne Berner.

The new R&D centre will host projects focussed on autonomous navigation, the development of land-based control centres, and the use of artificial intelligence in future remote and autonomous shipping operations, Rolls-Royce says.

“I’m proud to say that the R&D centre is now up and running and that all stakeholders, partners and customers will be able see here what a remote controlled and autonomous maritime future could look like, and work with us to shape the future,” said Mikael Makinen, president marine, Rolls-Royce.

“The experience space that is part of the centre here in Turku, and a similar one we have in our Technology Centre in Norway, is aimed at demonstrating to our customers the very tangible benefits of what is often considered an intangible technology.”{/mprestriction}