"The intelligent unmanned ship is a new marine species that will bring revolutionary changes to ocean monitoring," Chen Dak, the laboratory director in charge of the ship, was quoted by Science and Technology Daily as saying in 2021 when the ship's construction began.
The drone's autonomous capabilities aim to enhance options by providing safer, cheaper and easier operations.
But the idea of whether they can truly achieve this is still a topic of debate and the answers will come when these autonomous ships are tested and used around the world.
Enhancing the capacity of artificial intelligence systems for maritime supervision
With this latest ship, China hopes that AI and unmanned systems will enhance its ability to supervise maritime at lower cost and higher efficiency than manned operations.
China is known to use autonomous equipment systems in many areas such as marine rescue and marine environment monitoring, so this ship is the next step in a long-term development of autonomous ships.
The unmanned ship, called Zhu Hai Yun, will be used for marine scientific research and observation.
The vessel is 290 feet long, 46 feet wide and 20 feet deep (88.5 meters long, 14 meters wide and 6.1 meters deep) and features a designed displacement of 2,000 tons. It can travel at a speed of 13 knots and a maximum speed of 18 knots.
The ship was built by Guangzhou Corporation, a subsidiary of China's largest shipbuilder, China State Shipbuilding Corporation.
The sea trials are expected to be completed by the end of this year in order to be handed over to the country for operations on time.
Aircraft carrier carrying dozens of unmanned vehicles
The report states that Zhao Haiyin has the ability to carry dozens of unmanned vehicles, including unmanned aircraft, ships and submarines that can work together carefully to monitor targets.
It also has the remarkable quality of being domestically produced through the power systems, propulsion systems, intelligence systems and survey support systems developed by China in China.
The ship should inspire other nations to engineer similar cruise ships, but it remains the world's first for now. The question that comes to the fore is whether the ship can be used for military purposes.
And with any new technology, there is always a fear that it will be used in wars, and China is a country known for its military might. Could this ship be used for more than research or perhaps observation? Only time can answer this question.
