Remota and Hyke team for electric autonomous ferries

Remota will support Hyke in the development of remote operations capability of its electric and autonomous water shuttles. (Photo: Remota AS)

Remota AS has signed a letter of intent (LOI) with Hyke (Hydrolift Smart City Ferries) to develop remote operations capabilities for Hyke’s ferries, which feature proprietary autonomous vessel control technology that enables operators to improve safety through the auto-docking function.

Remote AS is a joint venture between DeepOcean, Solstad Offshore and Østensjø Group. It was formed to develop and offer remote operations and semi-autonomous maritime services to existing vessels and remote operations of ROVs and USVs. In addition, its remote operations centers function as a control center for remote services for various marine applications, including operate remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and underwater drones for the subsea oil and gas industry.

Hyke is a spin-off of Eker Group, which has over 35 years of industrial design, product development and boat-building experience, and operates out of the Eker Werks office in Oslo, Norway. Hyke offers a complete solution, including electric water shuttles, automatic docking and charging jetties, autonomous navigation technology and vessel operator applications.

Under the LOI, Remota will support Hyke in the development of remote operations capability of its electric and autonomous water shuttles. The LOI includes provisions of control technology and the interface between Hyke’s water shuttles and Remota’s Remote Operations Centers that will support and enable the autonomous operations.

The project in Haugesund, Norway, will pilot fully autonomous operations while establishing a completely new urban mobility service. (Photo: Remota AS)

“Hyke is on a mission to revolutionize urban mobility for good through new and better waterways,” said Bjørn Utgård, CEO of Hyke.

The first Hyke water shuttles will be commissioned in Norway in 2023, starting in Fredrikstad and Haugesund.

In Fredrikstad, Hyke has a close collaboration with the Municipality, which already operates eight traditional urban ferries transporting more than 1.5 million passengers per year. Here, Hyke’s water shuttle will be used to create a new rapid river crossing and demonstrate integration of autonomous operations into traditional ferry networks.

In Haugesund, Hyke and Remota are collaborating with the Municipality, Karmsund Havn and the University of Western Norway to pilot fully autonomous operations while establishing a completely new urban mobility service intended to reduce travel time, congestion and emissions, Remote said. The project has received NOK 11 million from the regional Ulla-Førre fund, and will be led by Haugesund Municipality.

Remota’s three founding companies are based in the Haugalandet region, providing an added bonus alongside the commercial rational behind the Haugesund project, said Sveinung Soma, CEO of Remota.

“Hyke’s business proposition is an ideal fit for what we are aiming to achieve with Remota, so we look forward to collaborating to realize both autonomous and remote operations for ferry crossings and achieve substantial cost and environmental savings by doing so,” Soma continued. “The collaboration with Hyke will allow us to develop a world leading remote offering for maritime operations. This will open up a huge global ferry market for Remota.”