Rolls-Royce and Sea Machines Robotics have announced a new partnership to provide a complete set of fully and semi-autonomous vessel control solutions via a single source.

The combination of Rolls-Royce’s propulsion and automation solutions with Sea Machines’ vessel control products will offer marine customers significant benefits in terms of vessel operations, safety, efficiency and environmental impact.

The strategic cooperation will focus on products for remote and autonomous vessel control and situational awareness, primarily for yachts, commercial and government vessels.

As part of the agreement, Rolls-Royce Power Systems will receive sales and service rights for existing and future Sea Machines products.

The two companies will also work together to develop new capabilities to provide customers with advanced total solutions that aggregate and analyse all vessel data and intelligently control vessels based on this information.

“Our autonomous vessel control products and advanced perception systems are pioneering the revolutionary shift of conventional and manual vessel control effort from human to intelligent technology. Autonomous systems take over routine efforts, reduce stress for crews and thus increase operational predictability and safety. The technology makes shipping more productive, economical and contributes to more sustainable operations. We partner with those best-in-class and Rolls-Royce stands out as being most trusted. We look forward to serving the market together and furthering the technology that provides solutions for customers,” said Michael Johnson, CEO and founder of Sea Machines.

Denise Kurtulus, vice president global marine at Rolls-Royce Power Systems commented: “As part of our PS 2030 strategy, we are evolving from a propulsion supplier to a provider of integrated sustainable solutions. In the marine sector, we want to provide our customers with complete solutions from ‘bridge to propeller’ with the highest quality customers have come to expect from us. We are delighted to have found another strong and agile partner in Sea Machines to help us achieve this.”