Creating International Standards for Technology Developed Through MEGURI2040Toward social implementation of fully autonomous navigation

The Nippon Foundation launched the MEGURI2040 Fully Autonomous Ship Program in February 2020 with the aims of addressing crew shortages in Japan’s domestic shipping industry and increasing ship safety. The Foundation recently held a briefing at a meeting of the International Organization for Standardization’s (ISO’s) Technical Committee 8 / Subcommittee 26 (TC 8/SC 26) in Kobe to introduce the project to specialists from around the world. The ISO is the organization that sets international standards related to products and systems, and TC 8/SC 26 will set international standards for autonomous navigation systems.

During the project’s (completed) Stage 1, successful demonstrations of autonomous navigation involving long distances and long times (more than 12 hours) were carried out in the congested waters of Tokyo Bay during January–March 2022.

Stage 2, which is currently underway, is using the knowledge gained from Stage 1 for social implementation (commercial navigation) of container ships, which play the main role in cargo transport, and of Ro-Ro container ships that transport dairy and agricultural products to remote islands in the Seto Inland Sea. From the winter, four vessels are being used to demonstrate autonomous navigation on commercial routes, with the goal of having 50% of domestic vessels converted to autonomous navigation by 2040 and thereby addressing the international social issue of crew shortages  and enhancing ship safety.

At the meeting, the subcommittee confirmed its policy for creating international standards for autonomous navigation through cooperation among various countries for social implementation of autonomous navigation. A tour of the Fleet Operation Center built by Furuno Electric Co., Ltd. at its headquarters in Nishinomiya City, Hyogo Prefecture, was also given to provide an overview of the demonstration testing and introduce the functions that the land-based support center will use in the demonstration testing. At a special seminar held on November 14 to introduce the latest initiatives in autonomous navigation being carried out by Japan, China, and South Korea, The Nippon Foundation Executive Director Mitsuyuki Unno introduced the MEGURI2040 project and expressed his hope that the knowledge gained from the project and demonstration navigation results will be used in the creation of the ISO standards.