MSCA ETN AUTOBarge

AUTOBarge is about seizing an opportunity. Europe’s waterways are a vital resource that we have underused for most of the last century. Now, with the possibility for mass autonomous shipping, these canals and rivers offer a network that we can exploit without damaging the environment to the extent of new roads and aircraft runways. But to be able to do this we need new people with new skills. These innovators must be experts in remote control, monitoring, smart logistics, regulatory aspects, and many more areas associated with the complexity of inland shipping. The 15 early-stage researchers recruited to AUTObarge will begin this transport revolution. The AUTOBarge Beneficiaries are 7 universities, KU Leuven (BE), UA (BE), TU Delft (NL), NTNU (NO), NORD (NO), CUT (SE), UHAM (DE), 2 high-technology companies, PERI (BE) and KM (NO), and 1 non-university research institute, IDIT. The consortium is completed by 10 Partner Organisations that include 4 companies, 3 non-university research institutes, 2 network/stakeholder organisations, and 1 governmental organisation. AUTOBarge unites some of the best and most relevant of European industry and the key academic players, guaranteeing not only an exciting interdisciplinary, intersectoral research-and-training programme, but also a head-start for bringing about the successful application of autonomy in inland-waterway transport. AUTOBarge offers the first-ever training programme for the application of unmanned or autonomous vessels for smart inland shipping and their role in the overall multi-modal transport activity in Europe. This project has received funding from the European Union's EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020 under Grant Agreement No. 955768.