Autonomous Ferry: ABB's Helsinki Test and Beyond

How the autonomous ferry grew from rowboats and steam crossings to ABB's remote Suomenlinna II trial, Zeabuz and Hyke, and where ABB robots fit in ferry yards.

INDUSTRIAL ROBOTICS

Chat With Robot

10/13/20265 min read

An autonomous ferry is a passenger boat that steers, docks and avoids traffic with software, while people watch from a control room or ride along as backup. Small ones have already carried passengers in Trondheim and Stockholm, and in September 2026 the Norwegian builder Hyke won a start-up award in Doha for its electric self-driving ferries. This post looks at how ferries worked when every crossing needed oarsmen or a full crew, at ABB's 2018 remote control test with the Helsinki ferry Suomenlinna II, at what is happening on the water now, and at where ABB robots could fit in building the next ferries.

Aerial view of a white passenger ferry crossing dark water with the Helsinki skyline behind

The ice-class passenger ferry Suomenlinna II under way off Helsinki. Photo: ABB

From oars and steam to a ferry steered from shore

For centuries a ferry was a rowing boat or a sailing barge, and the crossing depended on the strength of the ferryman and the weather. Across the East River in New York, sailboats and rowboats could be hired to reach Manhattan as early as 1642. Steam arrived in the nineteenth century. In 1814 the Fulton Ferry Company began a regular steam service between Brooklyn and Manhattan, and by 1872 its boats made 1,200 crossings a day. Steam ferries also carried horses, carts and later cars across lakes and fjords.

Colour print of a flat steam ferry carrying horses and a carriage across a calm lake

A steam ferry carrying a horse-drawn carriage across Windermere in the Lake District, 1890s. Photo: Photochrom Print Collection, Library of Congress via Wikimedia Commons (public domain)

Diesel engines and steel hulls made ferries bigger and more regular through the twentieth century, but the crew stayed. A captain, a mate and deckhands handled every departure, docking and line. Helsinki's Suomenlinna II, built in 2004, is a typical example: an ice-class ferry that runs all year from Market Square to the Suomenlinna sea fortress, a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is driven by ABB's Azipod electric propulsion, which can steer in ice, and in 2017 it was also fitted with ABB's situational awareness system.

White double-deck passenger ferry with people on its upper deck moving across blue water

Suomenlinna II with passengers on deck on its crossing in Helsinki, 2018. Photo: Ad Meskens / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The first real tests of crewless steering came in the 2010s. In late November 2018 ABB and Helsinki City Transport took Suomenlinna II out of Market Square with no passengers aboard and Captain Lasse Heinonen steered it remotely through a test area of the harbour from a control centre in Helsinki. The ferry had been retrofitted with ABB Ability Marine Pilot Control, a dynamic positioning system. ABB called it the world's first such trial with an existing passenger ferry. The run took place in the ferry's off hours, in an area free of other boats, and afterwards Suomenlinna II went back to its normal onboard controls. In Trondheim, NTNU had built its first small autonomous ferry prototype, milliAmpere, in 2016.

Man at a desk with a joystick and tablet in front of screens showing a camera view and a radar plot

The shore control station used for ABB's remote trial of Suomenlinna II in Helsinki, 2018. Photo: ABB

Self-driving ferries in service in 2026

In autumn 2022 NTNU's milliAmpere 2 ran a public shuttle across Trondheim's main channel, limited to 12 passengers at a time. Its spin-off Zeabuz and the ferry company Torghatten then launched the Estelle in Stockholm in 2023. In September 2026 Hyke, another Norwegian company, won the Most Promising Start-Up Award at the Autonomous e-Mobility Forum in Doha. Hyke says it is already manufacturing its electric autonomous ferries, including the F-15 Shuttle for up to 50 passengers, and it is looking for work in Qatar with a local partner.

Small glass-sided electric ferry with a sensor mast moored at a wooden pier in Stockholm

The self-driving ferry Estelle at its pier on Söder Mälarstrand in Stockholm, May 2023. Photo: Sinikka Halme / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Bigger boats are in testing. In late August 2026 WPRI reported that Rhode Island Fast Ferry's 82-foot crew transfer vessel Atlantic Endurance had been fitted with autonomy technology from Blue Water Autonomy. Company officials said it was the first vessel in the United States to receive Coast Guard approval as an autonomous offshore service vessel for testing. Fitting the cameras and sensors took about two weeks, and the system can slow down when it detects marine life. Even so, the company's chief executive said humans would stay involved in harder situations, such as passing under a bridge.

Close view of a hand touching a navigation tablet next to a black joystick

A hand on the tablet and joystick used to steer Suomenlinna II remotely in ABB's 2018 trial. Photo: ABB

ABB's part in this is mostly on the ship side: Azipod propulsion, electric power systems and the Marine Pilot software tested on Suomenlinna II. ABB's industrial robots work in factories, so their place would be in the yards that build these ferries, many of which have aluminium or composite hulls. ABB arms such as the IRB 7710 and IRB 7720 can be set up for friction stir welding, a method used to join aluminium panels, and our post on boat building robots covers how robots already help with hulls.

Large white ABB robot arm with a friction stir welding head over a black fixture in a factory hall

An ABB IRB 7710 or IRB 7720 robot set up for friction stir welding. Photo: ABB

Where autonomous ferries are heading

For people living near water, small electric ferries could become something like a bus that runs on a canal or a harbour. Norway already has long experience with battery ferries: the Ampere started carrying cars across the Sognefjord in 2015. Adding autonomy to boats like that could make short routes cheaper to run, so a city could offer more frequent crossings and later evening service. For now the trials stay on calm, well-mapped routes with low speeds and few passengers.

White and black car ferry sailing on a fjord below a green mountainside

The battery electric car ferry Ampere on the Sognefjord in Norway, 2017. Photo: Wikimalte / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

If cities order dozens of identical hulls, shipyards will start to look more like workshops with welding robots and repeatable jigs. A cobot like the GoFa CRB 15000 with ABB's arc welding package could suit smaller yards that build in short series, since a welder can teach it a seam by hand. Programs for larger cells are usually planned in RobotStudio first. None of this has been reported for a specific ferry builder yet, so it remains a possibility.

Worker in gloves guiding the welding torch of a white GoFa cobot on a perforated welding table

ABB's GoFa Cobot Arc Welding Package on a welding table. Photo: ABB

Regulation is the first hurdle. Rules in many countries still expect a captain on board, which is one reason the Trondheim trial was capped at 12 passengers. Insurance, docking in bad weather and dealing with kayaks and swimmers are hard problems for software. Cost matters too, because cameras, lidar and remote control rooms add up for a small operator. Shipyards and ferry companies will also need people who can maintain both the autonomy systems on board and the robots that build the boats.

Orange ABB welding robot beside an orange positioner holding a large steel part

An ABB arc welding robot with a positioner that turns heavy parts. Photo: Ana 2016 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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