MOL and Furuno to develop Augmented Reality enhanced displays

AR used to display route

DECEMBER 28, 2017 — Japan’s Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL) and Furuno Electric Co., Ltd. plan to jointly develop a system that supports ship operation during voyages using augmented reality (AR) technology.

Information, such as other ships sailing around the vessel and landmarks such as buoys at sea, can be shown on tablets and other displays, based on data from the Automatic Identification System (AIS).

Images of landmarks taken from the bridge can also be shown on the same displays, and these images will overlap with AR to provide visual support to crew members operating ships and keeping watch during voyages.

MOL is looking at ways to overlap displays of obstacles taken by radar, adding an Obstacle Zone by Target (OZT), which is an algorithm to prevent collisions between vessels, and supplementing displays of obstacles using image recognition technologies. Functions will be improved during FY2018. In addition,

MOL expects this technology to play a key role in the development of autonomous ships.