engleski

Possibilities of Using Autonomous Green Vessels for Passenger Transport in Urban Environments

In the cities around the world, road congestions affect the waste of time, increase of harmful gas emissions, increase of costs and increase of the likelihood of accidents. Conventional solutions for such problems understand usually the construction of new infrastructure, which is often expensive, time/space consuming, and insufficiently harmonised with the long-term goals of reducing the emission of greenhouse gases. Innovations, new smart and green technologies, as well as automation are the crucial factors in overcoming these modern challenges of mobility and logistics in urban environments. One of the modern innovative solutions to these problems lies in the exploitation of the sea and waterways of coastal cities, i.e. cities that lie on the shores of the seas, rivers and lakes. Autonomous green vessels in urban environments have the potential to become long-term and sustainable solutions that, apart from the revitalisation of the urban water transport, will enhance the economic, ecological, safety, and even tourist aspects of the cities. The paper gives a short insight into the technology of autonomous ships and their classification, and the specifics that result from their usage in urban environments. It gives an overview and analysis of the current condition of the sea/water transport in some of the famous world cities and an overview of the currently leading state-of-the-art projects and vessels suitable for urban environments. Finally, it analyses the possibility of using autonomous green vessels on the example of the city of Split (technical and technological perspective).

urban water transport, autonomous green vehicles, linear shipping line systems, environmental protection

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