The Need for Collaborative Business Models in Autonomous Vessel Ecosystems

In this paper we describe a set of stylistic business models for the core actors, each contributing to the full functionality of the autonomous vessel ecosystem. The ecosystem is comprised of a multitude of actors. Through our analyses, the actors in the ecosystem operate with different business models. This includes significant differences in up-front investment sizes, investment in assets, whether assets are mobile, and other. If not coordinated, this may thwart progression in developing the ecosystem. The same is true for all actors performing individual cost-benefit-assessments, missing out on the option of distribution costs (and financial risks) on a larger set of actors. Through our economic breakdown and discrete business model analyses, we demonstrate major asymmetric as well as asynchronous investments needed to make the ecosystem function, hereunder vast up-front investments for some actors (e.g., ports) with limited options for flexibility and appropriation in current setups. We propose that a shift towards a fully integrated autonomous shipping system would have to be scrutinized in terms of understanding each individual actor’s business model, and subsequently a proposal for both investment efforts as well as value appropriation would have to be revisited for such a system to be effectively launched.