World-first: autonomous commercial ship voyage in congested water completed  

Powered by AI and deep learning technologies, Orca AI’s safety navigation system was set up on the vessel to act as a ‘human watchkeeper’ and provide real-time detection, tracking, classification and range estimation on 18 onboard cameras, totalling 360° day and night. 

Orca AI’s algorithms were trained on data collected over a year from Suzaku to identify targets in the complex Japanese shoreline environment. The information from the cameras reflected to the fleet operations centre in Tokyo - hundreds of kilometres away.

Orca AI co-founder and chief executive Yarden Gross said, “The world’s first commercial autonomous voyage is a significant milestone in this journey and we expect to see big shipping companies implementing advanced AI and computer vision technologies to materialise the autonomous shipping vision”.

MTI Co’s Dr Hideyuki Ando added, “With the great majority of Japan’s international trade relying on shipping, it’s been imperative for us to find technological solutions that can make shipping safer. We thank Orca AI for helping us find the ultimate computer vision solution to enhance situational awareness on ships, despite the obstacles the global pandemic has presented. Their successful delivery of the entire project, thousands of kilometres away from Japan and with complex hardware and software being shipped and remotely updated, is a prime example of the potential technology has to transform the industry”.

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