As vessels become increasingly complex with new technologies and fuels, the application of autonomous technologies to support human crew decision-making is gaining ground in the maritime industry.

On this episode of Setting Course, Chih Wei Lui, ABS Senior Managing Principal Engineer, and Kalevi Tervo, ABB Corporate Executive Engineer and Global Program Manager, join host John Snyder, Managing Editor of Riviera Maritime Media, to broadly discuss the impact of autonomous technologies on the maritime industry.

Lui and Tervo discuss specific applications, the evolving regulatory landscape, and the evolving role of crew onboard vessels with autonomous technologies.

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Key Points

• Autonomy in the maritime industry is in an exciting phase with a lot of work happening behind the scenes.
• The focus is on the practical application of autonomous technology in vessel operations to improve efficiency.
• Human beings are still crucial for decision-making, while machines handle tedious and data-intensive tasks.
• These technologies are being piloted in various sectors of the maritime industry.

Guests
Chih Wei Lui is a Senior Managing Principal Engineer with ABS and leads the electrical plan review team in Singapore. Lui has been with ABS for 16 years working in various roles in Engineering plan review and Technology in Singapore and Dubai. He has extensive experience in maritime regulations and electrical and automation systems. He is a subject matter expert on smart and autonomous shipping and is actively involved in global efforts on this topic. He represents ABS on the IACS (International Association of Classification Societies) Expert Group on MASS (Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships). He was the lead author of the ABS Requirements for Autonomous and Remote Control Functions and the Advisory on Autonomous Functionality.

Dr. Kalevi Tervo received his D.Sc. (Tech.) degree in Control Engineering from Aalto University, Finland, in 2011, where he served in various positions during 2005-2011. At Aalto University, he led a research team involved in building the first IoT systems for mobile working machines with major Finnish working machine companies. Since joining ABB in 2011, he has led R&D projects focused on increasing ship automation and performance through data analytics, optimization and control. In his current role as a Corporate Executive Engineer, Dr. Tervo leads a major R&D program developing efficient, sustainable and intelligent shipping solutions.