Thales and University of Southampton enter research partnership
Thales and the University of Southampton have announced a research partnership on autonomous marine systems, which is part of a strategic approach to the application of artificial intelligence to maritime environments, set to meet the UK's future maritime energy and defence infrastructure requirements.
Sharing a common research vision in the deployment of autonomous systems in the maritime environment, Thales and the University of Southampton (UoS) teams will work together to optimise cooperation between humans and autonomous systems through their combined expertise in artificial intelligence, maritime engineering and autonomous systems.
The ultimate objective of this research programme is to enable the deployment of autonomous systems in the maritime environment and to reduce the cost of maritime operations through better human-machine collaboration.
This ambitious project lies in the emphasis placed on the human aspect, which must be at the centre of the decision-making process, namely exploring the human operator's expectations and understanding how new autonomous systems can help him optimise his tasks.
By deploying AI and robotics in autonomous maritime platforms, this programme will meet the United Kingdom's needs for maritime energy and defence infrastructure.