Computer Vision News - June 2019

It’s no secret that autonomy is happening everywhere, from autonomous cars to self-driving trucks. But the founders of Shone took their attention from the roads and set their sights on the sea. Ugo Vollmer and his team recognize that autonomy will inevitably happen with cargo ships . Their question: how and when it will happen. Others in the industry predicted that autonomous shipping would happen through new, unmanned electric cargo ships. At Shone, they didn’t consider this a realistic way to tackle the problem. Instead, they took another approach which brings autonomy progressively on existing vessels through retrofitting without removing a single crew member on board. A cargo ship has three main functions: navigation, engine room maintenance, and cargo landing . Shone primarily focuses on navigation because this can lead to accidents and inefficiencies. They have been working toward autonomy progressively primarily with CMA CGM , one of the biggest shipping lines in the world to develop technology on their operational vessels. The seafarer has one of the most hazardous jobs on earth. Cargo shipping faces dangerous storms with surging waves and violent winds reaching 160 miles per hour. Political unrest and pirate attacks can also put cargo at risk. “ Even in 2019, you still have ships that are crashing right into an island when people are not standing their watch . Their GPS is following a track that is going right into an island. This is obviously something that should not happen. There are a bunch of cases that nobody hears about because it’s not happening in your national water. This happens pretty often, and the consequences are disastrous in many aspects, including on the environment ” Ugo shares. Shone seeks to use autonomous technology to mitigate these dangers and increase the safety of cargo shipping. 18 Computer Vision News Application Ugo Vollmer Ugo Vollmer is the Co-founder & CEO at Shone, a company that retrofits manned cargo ships with autonomous technologies. He shares more about how their company uses artificial intelligence to improve the safety, security, and quality of life of the men and women who sail the seas. Application: Autonomous shipping