Zeabuz wants to revitalize the waterways in cities all over the world with driverless, emission-free city boats. Before they scale up and aim for the stars, little “Milliampere 2” will carry 12 people 300 meters in Trondheim.
– We think cities around the world will become more attractive to live in if we take the waterways back into use, says Erik Dyrkoren, CEO of Zeabuz.
Since the dawn of time, cities and communities have been built up around ports and rivers. Back in the days, moving by sea was preferable. Today, however, the infrastructure has largely moved onto land.
– With small autonomous ferries, which are supposed to operate almost like an elevator, transporting pedestrians and cyclists around in city centers can be a very smooth process. The need for building bridges, that are expensive both to build and operate, will also disappear, says Dyrkoren.
NTNU start up
Zeabuz originated after several professors at NTNU joined forces to get an autonomous boat operating at sea as quickly as possible.
– NTNU has extremely strong knowledge within autonomy. This knowledge represents a strong backbone in this project. Our goal now is to firstly make one small autonomous boat. When the boat is operating, we can scale up the number of passengers, the length of the voyage and the size of the vessel, says Dyrkoren.
Troubled waters
Removing the captain from the ship is not a minor issue. Both rules and laws leave great responsibility in the captain’s hands.
– This is a big project, even though the first ferries will be small. The first autonomous electric city ferry will carry twelve passengers ca. 300 meters. We are cooperating with DNV GL and NMA (Norwegian Maritime Authorities) to find solutions concerning laws, rules and classifications. When the first city ferry is in route, we can start to think about how to scale up, says Dyrkoren.
New cluster member
Recently Zeabus joined NCE Maritime CleanTech as a new partner in the cluster.
– We want to pave the way for autonomous shipping. It´s a hot topic all over the world, and we have come a long way. Going further, we need a strong supply chain to make things happen. We think joining the maritime cluster NCE Maritime CleanTech can help us find the solutions and new partners we need to develop and expand Zeabuz. We have great respect for the impressive work done by the cluster and its member companies, says Dyrkoren.
NTNU has already built the first pilot vessel “Milliampere” named after the electric ferry “Ampere”. Milliampere has been tested at sea in Trondheim, with great results. Now, the building of its successor ”Milliampere 2”, is well underway.
– NTNU is building “Milliampere 2”. We hope to have the ferry on the water by the end of this year. We aim to learn much from this process before we start building our own autonomous electric city ferries. Our goal is to have the firstferries operating at sea during 2021, says Dyrkoren.