Microsoft Joins Tech Race to Clean Up Shipping With Big Data

https://www.datacenterknowledge.com/microsoft/microsoft-joins-tech-race-clean-shipping-big-data

Microsoft Joins Tech Race to Clean Up Shipping With Big Data

 

Microsoft Corp.’s venture arm, M12, just announced it’s leading an $11 million Series A funding round for Nautilus Labs, a New York startup that uses artificial intelligence for fuel efficiency on ships. California’s NVIDIA Corp. is working with another AI startup in San Francisco. Japan’s Hitachi Ltd. is pursuing similar technology in Europe.

Nautilus says it can use artificial intelligence to deliver real-time analytics and alerts to ship crews that could help save more than 10 percent on emissions in a single voyage. For example, if a ship learns it’s traveling too fast at night, it could slow down to save fuel.

Cleaner, higher-grade fuel and biofuel are more expensive, an added incentive for companies to use less. Improving efficiency with data is potentially cheaper and faster than some of the other efforts under way now, including installing scrubbers on commercial ships that keep sulfur out of the air and developing new wind and air bubble technologies to reduce friction on their vessels.