Shipping's Space Age Future

摘要

Looking like a teaser for an upcoming Star Trek movie, a six-minute video posted by Rolls-Royce last month lays out its high-tech vision of unmanned cargo ships and the future of shipping. At the heart of that vision is a sophisticated, cutting-edge, land-based control center with interactive smart screens, voice recognition systems, and holographic images of the ship and its equipment. An officer sits in a command chair before the "OX global wall," which provides a worldwide overview of shipping traffic. Flying drones launched from the unmanned ship are the operator's eyes in the sky to monitor navigation, security, weather and inspect the ship itself. In the video, Rolls-Royce envisions a small crew of 7 to 14 people that will monitor and control the operation of a fleet of vessels across the world.