Norwegian shipyard Brødrene Aa to build Zeabuz self-driving city ferry
? Brødrene Aa shipyard from Hyen in Vestland County, Norway has been assigned to build the first self-driving passenger ferry for commercial operation in the middle of Stockholm. The traditional ferry company Torghatten AS and the autonomy supplier Zeabuz are behind the project.
? “Norway is at the forefront of autonomous vessels worldwide, and we have come a long way in developing cargo ships. We are taking this to the next level with the testing and development of commercial, self-driving passenger ferries. We are proud of this project where the shipping company, technology supplier, and shipyard become a Norwegian export product to Stockholm”, says Reidun Svarva, head of business development in Torghatten.
The vessel to be built is an electric catamaran with a capacity of 25 people, scheduled to be completed in April 2023. The passenger ferry will operate the line between Kungsholmen and Söder Mellarstrand in Stockholm, with 15 hours of continuous electric operation every day. The ferry has a crew of one person and a control room on land.
? “This is an exciting project for us where we combine the technical expertise and experience, we have with building energy-efficient speedboats combined with the autonomous technical solutions of the future”, says Tor Øyvind Aa, general manager of Brødrene Aa.
The Norwegian technology company Zeabuz supplies the autonomous system for the passenger ferry. The company was spun out of the maritime research environment at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). Together with NTNU, Zeabuz has already developed an autonomous test ferry that runs in Trondheim. The project in Stockholm stands out as the world’s first autonomous ferry with a commercial operation.
? “We have learned a lot from our project in Trondheim, and now we are ready to take the next step in creating the world’s first commercial autonomous city ferry. The technology will essentially be the same, but in Stockholm, we will seriously test the autonomy system in daily operations with passengers in a way no one has done before. This will be incredibly exciting”, says the CEO of Zeabuz, Erik Dyrkoren.
?? Source: Zeabuz