[ti:Two Self-Sailing Ships Cross World Oceans for First Time] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.04]Two different ships have used autonomous sailing technology [00:05.44]to complete trips across world oceans for the first time. [00:13.36]One of the projects involved the Mayflower Autonomous Ship. [00:18.69]It is a completely autonomous ocean research ship powered by artificial intelligence (AI) technology. [00:29.76]The Mayflower recently completed a five-week trip [00:34.30]across the Atlantic Ocean without any human crew members. [00:39.93]It launched from the British port of Plymouth on April 27 [00:45.60]and arrived in the eastern Canadian city of Halifax on June 5. [00:53.48]The 15-meter Mayflower is named after a ship that carried a group of European settlers [01:01.25]from Plymouth to North America more than 400 years ago. [01:06.67]That famous trip, in 1620, [01:11.44]prepared the way for Britain's colonization of what Europeans called the New World. [01:19.64]The Mayflower Autonomous Ship is operated by ocean research group [01:25.99]ProMare and American technology company IBM. [01:31.88]Rob High is an IBM executive who helped lead the Mayflower project. [01:38.73]He told the Associated Press (AP) that the ship's autonomous technology system [01:45.88]"worked perfectly" during its trip across the Atlantic. [01:51.52]He added, however, that "Mechanically, we did run into problems." [01:58.14]The Mayflower experienced mechanical issues on its latest trip, [02:04.57]as well as an earlier attempt to cross the Atlantic. [02:09.28]The first attempt, in June 2021, [02:13.95]was canceled after a "minor mechanical issue" forced the ship to return to Plymouth. [02:21.56]Then, during the latest trip, a problem with the ship's power system [02:27.05]led project organizers to send the ship to Portugal's Azores islands in the mid-Atlantic. [02:35.69]A team member was flown to the area to perform emergency repairs. [02:42.65]More troubles came in late May when the Mayflower developed another power issue. [02:50.64]That problem was also repaired. [02:53.88]But the team decided to send the ship on a new path to Halifax. [03:00.54]This is because the Canadian port was closer [03:04.90]than its planned target in the northeastern state of Virginia. [03:10.00]Experts say AI software is getting much better [03:15.36]at helping self-sailing ships understand their surroundings and pilot themselves. [03:23.16]But most autonomous systems cannot repair themselves when mechanical hardware fails. [03:31.90]The Mayflower is equipped with instruments designed to measure the health of ocean waters. [03:40.02]ProMare and IBM hope it will be the first in a new generation of crewless, ocean traveling machines. [03:50.28]They say such ships could be used to explore parts of oceans [03:56.43]that are too difficult or dangerous for people to reach. [04:01.63]In another demonstration of the technology, [04:05.12]the owners of a large tanker say the ship recently sailed by itself [04:11.91]for more than 10,000 kilometers across the Pacific Ocean. [04:17.95]That ship, designed to transport natural gas, is operated by South Korea's SK Shipping. [04:27.96]The tanker, called Prism Courage, is equipped with an autonomous navigation system [04:35.43]developed by Hyundai-owned technology company Avikus. [04:41.45]The company announced in a statement that the 300-meter-long ship [04:47.73]successfully used its autonomous sailing system [04:52.17]during about half of a 20,000-kilometer trans-Pacific trip. [04:58.97]The tanker left the port city of Freeport, Texas on May 1. [05:05.38]It arrived at a port on South Korea's southwest coast on June 2. [05:13.20]During the trip, Prism Courage's autonomous navigation system [05:18.97]recognized the presence of nearby ships to avoid crashes more than 100 times, Avikus said. [05:28.56]In addition, the autonomous system is designed to choose the most ideal travel paths. [05:37.72]This system resulted in a 7 percent improvement in fuel efficiency, [05:44.50]while reducing gas emissions by about five percent, the company said. [05:51.67]Avikus said it believes autonomous navigation technology [05:57.20]can help solve worker shortages in the shipping industry. [06:02.24]It can also reduce pollutants and improve safety [06:07.20]"by completely removing the possibility of human errors." [06:13.08]The company said it plans to keep developing the technology [06:18.09]for large transport ships as well as for smaller pleasure boats. [06:24.87]I'm Bryan Lynn. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM