Zeabuz has signed a Letter of Intent with Haugesund Municipality to deliver Norway’s first zero emission autonomous city ferry.
The Norwegian start-up is tapping into the largely unexplored market for inland waterway transport to reduce traffic congestion, emissions and noise pollution.
A two-year pilot will get underway in 2025 connecting Haugesund Center with the city islands of Risøy and Vibrandsøy.
Zeabuz has teamed up with tech firm Seam and Norwegian shipping company Torghatten, the latter of which worked with Zeabuz on launching the world’s first autonomous commercial passenger ferry ‘Estelle’ in Stockholm in 2023.
“As the project progresses, we will see a significant shift in the captain’s role onboard the ferry,” Erik Dyrkoren, CEO of Zeabuz, told Zag Daily. “The ferry’s autonomous systems already navigates the vessel with limited need for interference from the captain. Going forward the system will gradually move towards taking all of the captain’s onboard responsibilities. From next year on we expect to conduct the first journeys with the captain in a Remote Operations Center on land, overseeing safe and efficient operation and intervening if necessary. This step-by-step approach allows us to safely integrate advanced self-driving capabilities while maintaining the highest standards of safety and operational reliability.”
The Haugesund City Ferry is the first in a planned network of ferries in the area, and the CEO said their goal is to introduce the Remote Operations Center functions alongside the launch of the second ferry.
Dyrkoren added: “The project will undoubtedly resonate beyond Norway’s borders. We look forward to introducing the solution for the world to see, and leveraging our learnings to further scale and enable autonomous technology to solve maritime challenges globally.”
