Every time something gets automated, the type of skills people need changes. The drone operator, for example, didn't exist until unmanned planes were introduced.
According to manufacturer Rolls-Royce, unmanned cargo ships could become a reality on our oceans within the decade. The FTSE100-listed company recently unveiled designs for its concept crewless vessels.
The BBC report that experts are divided on whether the time frame is realistic, but let's be clear – this will happen. It's a case of when, not if.
Oskar Levander, Rolls-Royce's vice president of innovation, engineering and technology said: "Now it is time to consider a road map to unmanned vessels of various types. Sometimes what was unthinkable yesterday is tomorrow's reality.
"Given that the technology is in place, is now the time to move some operations ashore? Is it better to have a crew of 20 sailing in a gale in the North Sea, or say five in a control room on shore?" he asked.
Levander said that a remote-controlled ship would look different to current ones, mostly because there would be no need for facilities and structures to support a crew.
These types of stories are going to get more and more common, and we need to think about the effect they'll have on skills development – if Rolls-Royce are right, unmanned ships will be on the seas when the current crop of Year 6 students enter the workforce.
Yet career advice always focuses on the now, rather than what's coming in the future. Do we need futurologists to re-train as career guidance coaches?
2 Responses
Good point
But I wonder if, because the ships were unmanned, we could make them pretty much impenetrable to pirates… incredibly strong hulls, etc… although actually by that point perhaps the 'laser weapon' deterrents will be operational. Also, I think because we are looking 10 years down the line – hopefully our tracking technology will be better!
The scale of some ships is just incredible – Maersk built a vessel that could carry 17,000 of the standard metal shipping containers. And I was speaking to a captain of a commercial ship once who said ships of that scale could be unloaded and loaded up again, at big sports, in 24 hours. Mindblowing. What will it be like in 10 years!
How will we know where the unmanned ships are?
Given that we cannot find a Malaysian jumbo jet despite knowing where it was coming from and where it was intending to go to – how will we know where the unmanned ships are?
I thought planes were tracked – but perhaps the ocean will just be littered with lost craft – from the air and sea?
What about pirates? If there are no crew and they know this – would it encourage more piracy?
Just a thought.