The world can expect to be introduced to the first crewless, autonomous ship by late 2018 – thanks to the work of two Norwegian companies that have taken the lead in the race to develop an automated sea vessel.

The Yara Birkeland, dubbed the ‘Tesla of the Seas’, will start sailing fertiliser 37 miles down a fiord from a production facility to the port of Larvik toward the end of next year, according to The Wall Street Journal. It will use a global positioning system, radar, cameras and sensors, and is designed to navigate around other boat traffic and to dock on its own. Initial tests of the ship will have a human at the controls.

The vessel – set to cost $25m, or about three times as much as a traditional container ship – is being developed by agriculture firm Yara International and Kongsberg Gruppen, which provides tech systems and solutions to customers in the oil and gas, merchant marine, defence and aerospace industries.

Despite its high development costs, it is believed the 100-container ship will cut annual operating costs by up to 90 per cent, due to it not needing fuel or crew. It is also expected to replace 40,000 truck drives a year through urban areas in southern Norway.

British manufacturer Rolls-Royce has also been looking into autonomous shipping, investing in similar technologies to the Norwegian companies. Rolls-Royce has plans to launch robotic ships by 2020.