While self-driving cars and autonomous drones are still grabbing plenty of headlines so far this year, the same technology now looks set to revolutionize the global shipping industry — at least if U.K. engineering giant Rolls-Royce Ltd. has its way.

Best known for its cars and airplane engines, Rolls-Royce has announced plans to release its first fleet of autonomous ships by 2020. The company claims that could cut sea transport costs by as much as 20 percent by removing the need for shipping companies to have a crew to pilot the boats.

The company said it is cooperating with bodies connected with the Norwegian and Finnish governments as well as undertaking research projects in Britain and Singapore, to work on developing regulations that would allow them to first run automated ferries and tugboats in local waters. Eventually it hopes to launch automated cargo vessels that could sail the globe once international regulations for such ships are in place.

“The development will start in a few countries, and these flag states will give the vessel permission to operate before we have international regulations in place,” Rolls-Royce Vice President of Innovation Oskar Levander told Sky News.

Like the emergence of self-driving cars and trucks, not everyone is happy with the proposal. Union leaders claim that autonomous ships would result in job losses and raise legal and security issues given that the ships would have no crew.

“The pace of change is a challenge to safety and there are also many unanswered questions about the legal implications of the way in which operational and management responsibilities are being taken away from ship’s staff,” a spokesman for the international maritime union Nautilus said.

Rolls-Royce, however, argued that the self-navigating ships would be both safer than existing vessels, and will lead to the creation of more jobs on land.

Image courtesy of Rolls-Royce