NEWS

Japanese consortium and Yokosuka municipal government and other units, experimental small sightseeing ferry to the islands of automatic driving, hoping to be in 2025 to allow the official sailing of self-driving ships.  
COVID-19 has led to the rise of the housing economy and increased demand for global shipping, but the shortage of manpower continues.  An unmanned container ship will be piloted between Tokyo Bay and Ise Bay this year, with plans to launch in2025.  
Kyodo News reported that the Unmanned ship developed by Japan uses the GPS and the latest radar equipment, and has a remote cockpit at the "Land support Center" in Chiba Prefecture. When you get behind the wheel, you will see 12 screens. 
The unmanned ship can master the position, speed and direction of the surrounding ships to automatically avoid collision, and can also measure the distance between the ship and the dock, adjust the speed of the ship, and safely dock.  
The unmanned vessel, which will be converted from the old container ship SUZAKU by shipyard SANWA DOCK, is scheduled to be completed in February and run trials between Tokyo bay and Ise Bay.  In consideration of the danger of sailing in the area with multiple vessels, and the possibility of accidents such as storms and vessel breakdown, the support center will carry out 24-hour monitoring.  About 30 people will be on the boat at this stage to ensure safety.  
Meanwhile, The Nippon Foundation recently revealed a test of a small tourist ferry that automatically navigates to an outlying island. The program detects a ship in front of it through several sensors installed on The ship and automatically changes course to avoid it. It hopes to have self-driving boats in operation by 2025.