With more than US$100 million spent on developing autonomous ships, can South Korea lead East Asia?

In fact, not only self-driving cars, self-driving technology has also been increasingly applied in the aviation and maritime fields, and self-driving ships, self-driving aircraft, etc. have been launched one after another. Recently, according to relevant South Korean authorities, the country will invest 160 billion won (approximately US$132 million) to develop autonomous ships, and the technology will reach L3 level within six years.

Similar to self-driving cars, self-driving ships also implement corresponding technical classification standards. According to the preliminary definition of the IMO, autonomous ships are divided into four technical levels, namely partial operation automation, remote control and partial crew control, complete remote control and complete operating systemautonomous control.

In the era of globalization, 90% of trade activities are realized through shipping, which means that the development of autonomous ships is of great value. Specifically, autonomous ships can have significant innovations in design. They can save accommodation cabins, canteens, stairs, doors and other spaces and facilities needed by human crew members, allowing the ships to have greater cargo carrying capacity and improve transportation. benefit.

In addition, the application of autonomous driving technology means that personnel costs can be significantly reduced, and at the same time, some faults or hidden dangers caused by human factors can be avoided. At the same time, this will also help promote a new transformation and upgrading of the shipbuilding industry, and better promote the application of artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, 5G and other technologies in the shipbuilding field.

Previously, South Korea’s SK Telecom cooperated with Samsung Heavy Industries to conduct a remote control experiment for ship navigation based on 5G network. In this experimental trial, an autonomous navigation test vessel independently developed by Samsung Heavy Industries was used, equipped with radar based on 5G network and video control solution T-Live Caster provided by SK Telecom and cloud-based IoT solutions.

There is no doubt that the application of 5G and other technologies will provide strong support for the technological upgrading and commercial application of autonomous ships. Therefore, not only South Korea attaches great importance to the development of autonomous ships and the integrated application of information technology, but China and Japan, the other two major shipbuilding countries, also pay great attention and support.

　2019In July 2020, my country's Ministry of Transport issued the "Outline of the Digital Transportation Development Plan", proposing to promote the deep integration of advanced information technology and transportation, accelerate the development of transportation informatization toward digitalization, networking, and intelligence, and provide information for the construction of a strong transportation country. support. Among them, promoting the intelligent development of shipping vehicles, operating facilities such as ships and docks is an important content.

The "Outline" also points out that it is necessary to promote the development of self-driving ships, automated terminals and yards, and encourage the application of terminal equipment with multi-dimensional sensing, high-precision positioning, and intelligent network connection functions; accelerate Beidou Navigation is applied in the fields of free-flow charging, autonomous driving, vehicle-road coordination, maritime search and rescue, port automation operations, and collection and distribution dispatch; accelerate the construction of national and industry standard systems for autonomous driving, and actively participate in the coordination, exchange and cooperation of standard formulation and revision, etc. .

Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism also stated in its report that the country will set the goal of realizing the practical use of autonomous navigation by 2025. For Japan, promoting the development of autonomous ships will help activate the country's shipbuilding industry, thus changing the unfavorable situation of lagging behind China and South Korea in this key field.

In addition to China, South Korea, and Japan, European countries such as Norway are also particularly enthusiastic about the development of autonomous ships. This time, South Korea has invested heavily in the field of autonomous ships, which obviously has great ambitions. However, if it wants to lead East Asia, it depends on whether China and Japan agree. At present, China is also increasing its investment in the field of autonomous ships. It is believed that competition in this industry will intensify in the future.