Human error accounts for 8% of marine accidents, and the automatic and autonomous operation of ships will lead to a significant reduction in human error.It is expected to greatly contribute to the prevention of marine accidents and significantly reduce the burden on seafarers, which will significantly change the way sea transportation should be.Against this background, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism is aiming to put an automatically operated ship into practical use by 2025 through "demonstration projects related to the safety of automatic takeoff and landing of ships".

　This demonstration experiment was conducted from March to April 2021.This is the world's first attempt in that it used a large car ferry (total tons: 3 tons) actually engaged in commercial voyages and that it was carried out on the actual quay.

　Before the implementation, based on the ship maneuvering performance of "New Rainbow Bell", the ship maneuvering plan, implementation procedure, cancellation criteria, etc. were formulated in advance, and the safety evaluation under various events was sufficiently carried out.In addition, automatic takeoff and landing was performed on the virtual pier assumed at sea, and the safety was verified on the actual ship.

　Taking advantage of this result, we aim to make the technology more versatile by conducting demonstration tests of automatic takeoff and landing on actual quays for other ship types in the future.In addition to automatic takeoff and landing, we will also promote efforts toward the realization of autonomous navigation.
　
Reference: [Tokyokaiyo University] Successful automatic takeoff and landing on the actual quay by the world's first large car ferry (PDF)