KONGSBERG, the international technological corporation, signed a Research and Innovation (R & I) agreement with the PILOT-E technological acceleration organization for the development of zero, fully electric and autonomous ferry concepts. The PILOT-E program is a collaboration between the Norwegian Research Council, Innovasjon Norge and Enova, which is designed to accelerate time-to-market of state-of- the-art technological concepts while ensuring that the solutions produced are viable and sustainable.
In this sense the overarching concept of the autonomous PILOT-E shuttle is to develop a state-of- the-art shuttle as an integrated zero-emission aspect of a total national transport plan. In addition to this, its objective is to ensure that the benefits of advanced projects result in effective deliveries to the market.
KONGSBERG has a number of key sectoral partnerships in projects that will lead to new, connected, self-contained and environmentally-friendly vessels within the next two years, including the YARA Birkeland container feeder and the Hronn offshore service vessel. Also for KONGSBERG the R & I contract offers partial financing for the development of innovative autonomous functionalities such as Auto Docking and Auto Sailing, giving the Norwegian marine technology specialist the impetus to continue with its pioneering development of autonomous functionality for commercial ships.
In this sense the Project Manager of KONGSBERG Maritine, An-Magritt Tinlund Ryste, stated that the stakes are high and the vision of autonomy is shaping up. The PILOT-E Autonomous Ferry project introduces a new mindset that encourages the company to look beyond the traditional organization.
In addition Tinlund said that in order to meet the expectations of market time, KONGSBERG should adopt the true meaning of the collaboration and intensify the work in the technological areas within the corporation and between partners, to take advantage of this way the best of each area of specialization.
On the other hand, in order to comply with the PILOT-E project, KONGSBERG runs a consortium with Grenland Energy on marine battery technology, as well as the shipyard Fjellstrand for ship design, Gronn Kontakt on the loading of electric cars on board and on board and NTNU as a research partner within autonomy and energy management.
KONGSBERG is an international technology corporation that provides advanced and reliable technological solutions that improve the reliability, safety and efficiency of complex operations and in extreme conditions. It is for this reason that the partners of the PILOT-E project have been chosen for their complementary technology and their shared ambition to develop robust solutions for the future.