Humanoid & robot atlas
Sunflower Shiretoko (MEGURI2040 ferry trial)
Photo: 中竹たけし, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Pilot useJapanSupervised

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines consortium · autonomous vessel

Sunflower Shiretoko

MEGURI2040 ferry trial

A large commercial car ferry used to test automated collision-avoidance routing, camera-based target ranging and automated berthing and unberthing on its normal overnight route. The consortium's systems planned and steered the route themselves while seafarers supplied by the operators stayed aboard.

Price
—Service vessel, not sold
Autonomy
SupervisedHow it runs
Driverless
Not yetSafety driver on board
Fleet
1Reported; details below
Speed
—Not published
Range
—Not published
Compare

Why it matters

MOL called its 750 km trial the world's longest autonomous sailing at the time.

Real-world use

On 6-7 February 2022 the 190 m, 11,410 GT ferry sailed its commercial Tomakomai-Oarai route (about 750 km, about 18 hours) with autonomous collision avoidance and berthing systems.

Timeline

First shown
2022-02-06
Released
Not yet
MEGURI2040 sea trial, Tomakomai to Oarai

Maker

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines consortiumCompany

How it drives

Fleet and city figures move fast; each carries its date and who reported it.

Driverless status
Safety driver on board
Where it runs
Tomakomai (Hokkaido) to Oarai (Ibaraki), Japan
Fleet
1 vessel (MOL, Feb 2022)
Rides, miles or loads
About 750 km in about 18 hours, 6-7 Feb 2022 (MOL)

Public attention

How much public attention Sunflower Shiretoko (MEGURI2040 ferry trial) gets, from open data.

  • No Wikipedia article of its own yet
  • No recent press stories listed yet

Measures how much people read and write about a robot, not how good it is. Measured 2026-10-13; same method for every robot. How it is measured

What’s inside

No component details published yet.

Movement
Other movement
How it runs
Supervised. Works by itself while a person watches and steps in.

Lineage

Every Mitsui O.S.K. Lines consortium (Mitsui E&S Shipbuilding, Furuno, MOL Ferry) vehicle in order.

  1. Mikage (autonomous container ship trials)Mikage (autonomous container ship trials)2022Pilot use
  2. Sunflower Shiretoko (MEGURI2040 ferry trial)Sunflower Shiretoko (MEGURI2040 ferry trial)2022Pilot use

Made, sold and where

No production or sales figures published yet.

Price
Not publishedService vessel, not sold
How to get one
No official buying page found

Sources

Figures come from the maker. Every link below backs something on this page.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines World's longest distance autonomous sailing by a large car ferry (Sunflower Shiretoko) The Nippon Foundation Third and fourth MEGURI2040 demonstration tests: Mikage and Sunflower Shiretoko

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