VERNE – a project by the Suwałki-based company AllCharge sp z o.o. VERNE is a system for autonomous, low-emission water transport.
INVEST IN PODLASKIE: Who is Sławomir Chodor?
Sławomir J. Chodor (VERNE): First and foremost, I am an entrepreneur, an engineer, visionary, investor, advisor, and mentor… and a graduate of the Warsaw and Wrocław Universities of Technology. Privately, I am a husband and father. And I’m a fan of a few… but no, I’ll keep that a secret. Besides that, I passionately pursue certain activities in “water” and “air.” Especially in the “water” area, I have professionally carried out and worked on developing numerous projects in Poland and abroad for many years. I can also say that I am an expert in modern technologies, particularly in the field of autonomy using AI.
I want to add a few words that touch on the professional sphere, particularly about the VERNE project. I should address a vital context and specific experiences that largely influenced the creation and implementation of the VERNE project. At the beginning of 2016, I joined the team of mentors at the newly established MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Enterprise Forum Poland Accelerator, aimed at teams with new innovative projects and startups. Incidentally, I still collaborate with this accelerator (currently START SMART CEE), but now as a so-called Judge, i.e., a Committee for Evaluating and Qualifying Startups member for subsequent editions. Working at the MIT accelerator with many teams and analyzing numerous projects, I realized that the new technologies being developed, created, or utilized and the way they are financed by private capital, particularly high-risk venture capital, represent a completely new paradigm for building and conducting business today – based on these advanced technologies.
Sławomir J. Chodor (VERNE): This context provided me with the perfect starting point to redefine my previous activities and think about creating a new product stemming from a specific vision and a new business development strategy on an international scale. This strategy is based on a technologically advanced product aimed at the commercial market, addressing new market needs and the public domain—a dual-use approach.
VERNE is a thoughtful consequence of vision and strategy and motivates us for further work. In short, what we do: we are a technology startup established in 2022 to implement a project aimed at creating a range of innovative, intelligent, zero-emission, autonomous boats used for inland transport. It offers a different version of the future, so I am convinced that working on the VERNE product and developing this venture is much more critical than focusing only on the next version of a traditional “floating unit.” We are committed to introducing innovations that emphasize lifetime value and sustainable ecological development because then we will observe a transformation in the industry that meets the urgent needs of our times. Yes, we are a young startup today. Still, we aspire to build a significant share of the global potential for sustainable development.
Verne, as Jules Verne, a pioneer of science fiction in literature and the author of travel novels, including maritime ones. Coincidence?
As a young man, I loved reading his books! Among other things, thanks to him, I became interested in sea voyages, which happened many years later. A few years ago, when thinking about implementing a new project, I intuitively knew that if I were to name it, it would be VERNE. This name is also a tribute to the visionary pioneer of exploration and discovery. Like him, we strive for ingenious innovations and realize that what seems impossible today may become an everyday reality tomorrow. Transport should do more than move from point A to point B. It should inspire and delight. And be safe. We are building VERNE in harmony with the world around us and contributing to a conscious and sustainable future in every possible way. Speaking of innovation in business, in the VERNE project, and for me, it’s all about usability – the potential for real-world application. For me, innovation is the combination of things that may seem uncombinable or easy to combine but create an entirely new helpful value. That’s what VERNE is supposed to be!
You want to introduce autonomous water taxis to the market or, more broadly, to participate in developing autonomous, low-emission water transport. This is a revolution in how we think about water traffic organization.
Especially in cities rich in waterways – and globally, that’s as much as 90% of such places! To answer the question: Yes, and yes! Specifically, we are developing this transport concept based on a specific solution – this is the role we have adopted – as an active player in this area. But is it a revolution? More of an evolution. Autonomous ferries and water taxis can operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, which means they can carry more passengers and cargo than traditional units, which are limited by crew working hours. Therefore, this can open new markets for short-distance transport, such as commuting to work or urban centers.
Who can benefit from this? We can open new markets for tourism and recreational travel. The technological advancement of developing autonomous units will significantly impact the transport industry, such as logistics—and cargo transport in the Last Mile Solution area. This can lead to the creation of new businesses and services based on autonomous transport, such as the tourism I mentioned earlier—offering convenient, personalized city tours.
In economics, such an impact of one service on other markets is called enablement. The technology of autonomy, especially involving artificial intelligence, will play a significant role in planning. An example? It will enable quick route adjustments and provide flexibility to ensure a nearly just-in-time system – on demand. Therefore, in addition to the VERNE boat platform, we will offer an application for ordering on-demand transport services for residents and managing a fleet of such units – for the operator/owner. This is undoubtedly an added value of this autonomy.
Do you use ready-made tools, or do you create your own?
After evaluating the pros and cons and analyzing various factors, we developed the software in-house with a team of excellent engineers, focusing primarily on implementing and integrating semi and full-autonomy technologies in navigation and docking. We are designing autonomous technology for inland navigation – integrated with a vision system, i.e., an autonomous control system, autonomous image recognition of the unit, and a remote monitoring and control system.
This involves algorithms for identifying and classifying waterborne objects within the learned parameters of a neural network, adapted to recognize marine objects such as floating units, marine animals, obstacles, and technology that takes the form of binary code with functionalities such as:
– collecting data from standard navigation devices like ARPA, AIS, GPS, etc., in NMEA format
– developing a maneuver to avoid collisions with waterborne objects at a distance set by the operator, and so on.
We have a very detailed scope of work in the area of Autonomy, utilizing AI, Construction, and Propulsion. Additionally, we are working on an intelligent docking system and autonomous charging for our VERNE platform.
Building and maintaining a high-class technology team is not trivial. Therefore, considering these challenges, finding the right partner for various elements is much wiser.
We thus collaborate with several partners and suppliers of ready-made components, such as the battery system and zero-emission propulsion, as well as in the area of production and assembly, taking into account factors such as expertise, quality of work, production, and scalability. In summary, our intellectual property covers the inland autonomous navigation system, propulsion, automatic docking, and the VERNE platform’s technical design.
Who could benefit from an autonomous water transport system in the long term? Individual users, institutions, businesses?
The first direction is that we can open new markets for tourism and recreational travel by offering convenient, personalized trips. The technological advancement of developing autonomous units will significantly impact the transport and logistics industry.
This could lead to developing new businesses and services based on autonomous transport.
The technology of autonomy, particularly artificial intelligence, will play a significant role in planning. It will enable quick route adjustments and provide flexibility to ensure a nearly “just-in-time – on-demand” system. Therefore, along with the VERNE platform, we will also offer an app for ordering on-demand transport services for residents and managing a fleet of such units – for the operator/owner. This is an added value of this autonomy.
VERNE is also a response to the vision of a human-friendly city! Sustainable development cannot be an end in itself, detached from residents’ lives.
Our business goal is clear: revitalizing urban waterways with water mobility solutions that reduce costs through autonomy as a service, benefiting both mobility operators and passengers. I want to mention and highlight a few main benefits of such urban transport:
Frequent departures: We eliminate waiting times for departures – a fleet of small units ensures that people never wait more than a few minutes for the next departure, providing a seamless and efficient journey.
New connections: We open new connections on inland waterways, creating shortcuts that reduce travel distances, save time, and improve connectivity in the city. This improved accessibility increases efficiency and enhances the mobility of residents and visitors in the city.
Flexibility: The VERNE mobility system is designed to adapt to changing demands. It allows for route adjustments, changes in dock locations, and unit reconfiguration, ensuring optimal service coverage and meeting the evolving needs of urban transport.
Cost efficiency: The VERNE mobility system offers cost efficiency from environmental, time, and economic perspectives. With reduced energy consumption, shorter travel times, and optimized operations, the system provides a sustainable and affordable transport solution for operators and passengers.
It’s about the possibility of choice!
Safety is an absolute priority when it comes to autonomous road transport. Challenges, as shown by the example of taxis in San Francisco, are not lacking. Is it possible to create a system—especially in a new area like water—that guarantees safety?
You mentioned a case from the land environment. The situation is different in the water environment. We clearly differentiate these two worlds. I want to add that our and our partners’ components of autonomous navigation technology are already being tested on large passenger and transport vessels at sea. But returning to the question – I will answer with complete conviction, it is precisely thanks to the support of autonomous technology that we can say such a unit is a safe means of transport on the water! This is a crucial parameter of our operations and the company’s mission – enabling “safe autonomy for everyone” – and the key words for us are “safe” and “everyone”!
This multidisciplinary mission meets at the intersection of fields as diverse as human-computer interaction, safety engineering, computer science, human factors, and sociology. Therefore, we need to consider this multidisciplinarity when developing the autonomy model for the boat platform. Autonomy will change people’s lives.
In your opinion, is Poland ready for this revolution? Or perhaps it simply must be ready?
I look at it more broadly, globally. Every country, region, or city has its specific conditions. I have experience from my previous work in cooperation, researching the needs of potential clients, and working with the administration of various “waterfront” cities. In Poland, these are, for example, Gdańsk, Szczecin, and Wrocław. Globally, Amsterdam, Oslo, Trondheim, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and many others. To summarize, the need for innovation enters these areas to varying degrees and at different paces. A city is not a startup – you cannot plan its development from a quarterly perspective but over years, even decades. In a broader perspective, a cost today is an investment tomorrow. The direction we take is important. Rapidly developing cities and urban centers have focused on using technology and moving towards smart – but for people! The common denominator of implementing various services in this direction is comfort, well-being, and the welfare of residents. What needs to happen to modernize cities and regions to allow us to join the ranks of technologically advanced places? Dialogue and partnership! And friendly regulations. Also, making it possible for companies like ours and many other innovative firms to test new solutions for residents. Why? Because then they can develop ideas on how to use it further.
We also have some experience, benchmarks, and activities where we see changes in this long-term development of the so-called Smart City, characterizing the development of directions. Today, these are three generations of activities applied to varying degrees and in different places:
Generation 1.0 provides technology for businesses (without significant activity or involvement of local administration).
Generation 2.0 is the critical role of local city authorities in initiating changes and choosing technology (examples include Barcelona and Rio de Janeiro).
Generation 3.0 is the key role and involvement of residents in setting directions. Implemented solutions and new services are responses to their problems—focusing on thinking in terms of needs!
And this is happening! But what about Poland, our region?
Will cities like Gdańsk and other Polish cities, especially from the Podlaskie region, want to lead specific and good communication in this area and implement and test new services? Time will tell. I am close to the vision of a human-friendly place! And the cooperation model must reward cost-effective solutions.
Let’s discuss the barriers because, in this case, there are not only technological barriers but also—and perhaps primarily—legal ones. Launching a project for autonomous water transport can be a lengthy process in an international context. The mills of international institutions grind slowly.
Yes, we still have so-called legal barriers today, but in the area of autonomy in MARITIME navigation. There still needs to be an appropriate legal framework that would allow such maritime units to participate in international shipping. This is because all current maritime regulations are based on the assumption that there is a captain and a properly qualified crew on every ship. Therefore, the emergence of autonomous and unmanned maritime vessels challenges the fundamental assumptions of maritime law and international maritime law. Currently, the IMO (International Maritime Organization) is working on a non-mandatory “goal-based code” for this new type of maritime unit. The organization plans to complete this work by 2025. The plan is ambitious because it involves adapting the code’s assumptions to about 50 international conventions adopted under the auspices of the IMO, which will be affected by the emergence of autonomous and unmanned maritime vessels. However, due to the slowness of the IMO’s work in this area, we already have grassroots initiatives today, particularly in Scandinavia, where individual countries are designating areas for testing MASS boats. I will also mention Singapore and Poland because we are already making such preparations here.
As for the unit’s movement in INLAND navigation conditions – with a unit like the VERNE boat, with an autonomy level of 3.00 (i.e., under supervision), we are targeting navigation on canals, rivers, and inland lakes. Therefore, we are not limited by these maritime regulations here. We can only agree on the possibility of operating such an autonomous unit with local regulatory authorities responsible for a given body of water.
The costs of bringing such a product to market are certainly high. What financial model do you consider optimal for Verne? Is the project attracting investor attention?
We are working on a product solution that we can and want to scale globally. To fully utilize this potential, we need external financing, including grant support aimed at companies like ours. I sincerely believe that we will offer investors the opportunity to make an attractive investment of a global nature, considering the current M&A activity in the marine and deep tech markets. Therefore, in terms of potential investments, we are open to the participation of new investors or cooperation – the doors are open.
We are constantly exploring and analyzing various parameters for commercial success. In our financial model, we have assumed the solution’s margin compared to the competition. For example, we are still specifying how long it will take for the CAPEX to pay back to the client. We have already determined the most significant advantages over the competition and listed other differentiating parameters of the business model. We already have some practice in characterizing the possible barriers that other entities must overcome to create a solution analogous to ours (now or in the future). And the sales strategy – how we will generate leads, how long the sales process will last, how the company’s pipeline will shape up – we are constantly working on this.
Your first prototype is nearing completion. When will you launch it?
Yes, we are finishing integrating various components on our first unit, Verne #001 – but this is our first Proof of Concept. We will be testing it on the water in September to gather data and perform numerical analysis of various parameters to correctly assess the boat’s aerodynamic properties in terms of its stability and maneuverability in different weather conditions. Additionally, we aim to correctly evaluate the boat’s hydrodynamic properties, especially regarding hull resistance, which will help better optimize the propulsion. It is also essential to analyze the placement of the propulsion, battery system, optimal control, and the efficiency of the entire system and construction. In short, our tests aim to maximize the utility features while minimizing costs.
You come from Silesia but have anchored your company in Suwałki, the land of lakes. How do you find doing business here? Is there a future for enterprising and ambitious people in the Podlaskie Voivodeship?
There are many prospects. I found myself in Suwałki thanks to the arguments of my current investor and partner, who runs businesses in the Podlasie region. Undoubtedly, this region is very attractive in terms of nature and access to water, which is very important to me. Of course, when it came to the company’s location, we analyzed various factors affecting the development of our project. Ultimately, we made the decision. Business-wise, we have anchored at Innowacyjna Street 1.
Today, I trust it was not a bad decision and that this place and region will be a good place for our venture. A place where we can create and build an innovative business. The seat of innovation does not have to be large agglomerations or glass office buildings because innovation is about thinking outside the box. Our key team working on the project operates from various places in Poland and abroad. But as you mentioned, we consciously “anchored” in Suwałki to build infrastructure here in the long term, including planning to establish an R&D Center for Autonomy. I trust that the nature of Podlasie and the local administration will support such projects and entrepreneurs like myself, as well as others who have an impact on building the region’s position.
Have you been noticed abroad?
Despite the short period of the company’s operation, we are already contributing to the promotion of Poland, especially our region, with our headquarters here, through active participation in a number of international ventures. I will mention a few events. We were awarded and qualified for the European program “The Arch – 100 Solutions for The Planet.” Out of 250 startups from all over the EU, 100 were selected, significantly impacting sustainable development projects. Thanks to this program, we were promoted among city leaders, investors, and MEPs in Brussels. Another success was the selection of our company – one of six through selection for the URB Accelerator in Dubai, aimed at Urban Tech entrepreneurs and early-stage startups – we also received a special distinction in this program. We were also invited to participate in the Nevada Accelerator program in the USA, a program implemented in cooperation with NCBR. In Poland, we were selected along with 14 other companies (out of 45 applicants) for the accelerator in the military domain: the first program in Poland “IDA – Dual-Use Technology Innovation Accelerator,” partnered with the NATO DIANA accelerator. This is important because it confirms our business and technological potential and the impact we can have on the decarbonization of water transport, especially inland, on a global scale! Such traction would not have happened if our offer did not provide value! Additionally, we have significant interest and presence in Polish and foreign media. So we are already really promoting this region.
Thank you for the conversation.