Urban waterways can play an important role in making cities and communities more attractive with a positive effect on congestion. Electrified mobility solutions utilising waterways can also offer climate-smarter alternatives than new construction of bridges and roads. An example is smaller ships that enable pedestrians and cyclists to move swiftly between areas within a city. Smart and electrified ferries thus offer new perspectives for urban planning and citizen mobility in relation to sustainable development. Unlike for road traffic, where various trials with autonomous vehicles are already taking place, there is a lack of trials of smart ships on Swedish waters. One of the reasons is that there is uncertainty about what can and cannot be done, as well as how to know when smart ships are reasonably safe for the intended usage. That uncertainty has been addressed through two trials with the smart ship MS Estelle in Stockholm, Sweden. The trials have been carried out in relation to the Swedish Transport Agency's guidelines for tests with smart ships, including a safety argumentation for each trial.

The project has thus resulted in: 1. An analysis of how responsibilities and roles change when tasks that traditionally are carried out onboard the ship are instead performed remotely from shore 2. The world's first notification of trials with smart ships in Swedish waters 3. A safety argument for trialling remote monitoring of MS Estelle while completing a crossing of Riddarfjärden, Stockholm, in autonomous mode

The project took place between February 2023 and February 2025. The active partners were Torghatten AB, Zeabuz, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden AB, Ports of Stockholm, DNV AB and Vattenbussen AB with funding by the Swedish Transport Administration’s grant number 2022/108255. Vattenbussen took part in the project until January 2024.