Saudi Arabia Plans to Deploy Autonomous Ships by 2027

Saudi Arabia has announced its intention to launch autonomous ships by the end of 2027, as technical and regulatory tests near completion, aiming to expand the use of smart transport technologies in the maritime sector. Fawaz Al-Suhaili, Chairman of the General Authority for Transport, stated at the Saudi Maritime and Logistics Conference in Jeddah that the project began in 2025 in collaboration with specialized entities in shipbuilding, classification, and autonomous driving technology testing. Al-Suhaili noted that the project has reached its final stages and expressed hope to deploy autonomous ships by the end of next year, without disclosing details about participating companies, ship types, or operational scope. He also highlighted that trials of autonomous vehicles on roads have moved from regulatory testing to actual operational environments, anticipating their wider adoption on the Kingdom’s streets in the near future. Saudi Arabia had launched the initial pilot phase for autonomous vehicles in Riyadh in July 2025, followed by amendments to the traffic law executive regulations in June 2026 to regulate these vehicles' movement and enable them to make driving decisions autonomously.