Autonomous Ferry

A passenger or vehicle ferry that detects obstacles, plans routes, and berths with reduced or no crew intervention, mapped to an autonomy degree under IMO’s MASS framework. The first fully autonomous demonstration was Finferries’ car ferry Falco, which on 3 December 2018 ran the Parainen to Nauvo route in the Turku archipelago under Rolls-Royce Ship Intelligence control, auto-detecting objects and auto-docking with 80 guests aboard. IMO’s MASS Code (non-mandatory adoption targeted 2026, mandatory entry into force targeted 1 January 2032) defines the four degrees of autonomy that govern such trials.