rolls-royce has announced a new partnership with intel to help the engineering firm realise its mission to build fully autonomous ships. as a first step toward this rolls-royce released its intelligent awareness system (IA) earlier this year, using AI-powered sensor fusion and decision-making by processing data from lidar, radar, thermal cameras, HD cameras, satellite data and weather forecasts.

rolls-royce partners with intel to make self-driving ships a reality

images courtesy of intel and rolls-royce

 

 

now as part of its new deal with intel, rolls-royce will use the company’s 3D NAND solid-state drives to store the data from this network and intel’s xeon chips to process it. this data allows vessels to become aware of their surroundings, improving safety by detecting objects several kilometers away, even in busy ports. 

 

the system is currently being tested in a handful of ships, including a 165-m (541-ft) passenger ferry in japan. in this recent pilot, the IA system enabled onboard officers to detect nearby objects that they wouldn’t otherwise have seen in the darkness.

rolls-royce partners with intel to make self-driving ships a reality

 

 

‘we’re delighted to sign this agreement with Intel, and look forward to working together on developing exciting new technologies and products, which will play a big part in enabling the safe operation of autonomous ships,‘ kevin daffey, rolls-royce, director, engineering & technology and ship intelligence. ‘this collaboration can help us to support ship owners in the automation of their navigation and operations, reducing the opportunity for human error and allowing crews to focus on more valuable tasks.’