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Insights expertise and product line. thing that I think everybody’s tracking and monitoring. “We, as a company, have taken a more conservative ap- For us, it’s really going to come down to is there a ? t? Do proach to autonomy. Rather than rushing into building the autonomous vessels that they need ? t with the SAFE an autonomous boat, we’re looking to see how an autono- Boats line? Are they the kind of boats that we’re good at mous vessel ? ts a particular customer’s requirements. What building? And what do those requirements really look like, is the mission, what is the need, and then how can we rather than let’s just go try to put something out there design a vessel and work with an autonomous systems pro- that’s autonomous so that we can say we’re autonomous.” vider to tailor a solution to that customer?” Schwarz said. SAFE Boats is also seeing a lot of interest in decarbon- “The autonomous hydrographic survey boat that we built ization and alternative propulsion systems, Schwarz said, for Mythos was an example of that. They’re in a speci? c citing as examples electric, hybrid and hydrogen fuel cells. space, they had a very speci? c set of requirements, and ulti- “There’s a growing demand for vessels to be powered in mately, we worked with them and ? elded a vessel that was ways that we haven’t seen in the past, and a lot of those tailored to their market and what they were trying to do. technologies are still emerging. But as we’ve seen in the

That’s how we’re looking at it more broadly.” auto industry in the last ? ve or 10 years, we’ve gone from

The U.S. Navy is pushing forward with autonomous an industry that was in its infancy to one that is main- vessel technology in a big way. “There’s a lot of interest, stream and robust. In the maritime environment, as we but there also seems to be a lack of clarity around what frequently do, we’ve lagged behind that curve. But we’re they really need, what they want, what the mission is. It’s seeing a lot of development in the technology space from a little bit ready, ? re, aim,” Schwarz said. “That’s some- the propulsion companies, and we’re simultaneously start- www.marinelink.com MN 13|