As the global shipping industry accelerates its transition toward low-carbon, digital, and intelligent development, emerging technologies including artificial intelligence (AI), the internet of things (IoT), big data, and automatic control systems are profoundly transforming the shipbuilding industry. This transformation has positioned maritime autonomous surface ship (MASS) at the strategic forefront of international maritime technology competition. Although China has launched numerous R & D projects in autonomous ships and has made substantial progresses, challenges persist, such as unclear market demand and inadequate technological drivers. This study selects green-fueled container ships as the primary research focus, addressing their intelligence and autonomy requirements in actual shipping environments. The study identifies four core development directions and constructs a hierarchical logical architecture for autonomous ships. Subsequently, it investigates the application of autonomous technologies in the maritime domain. Furthermore, the paper analyzes evolution trends of autonomous ships and identifies shortcomings in key technological breakthroughs and institutional frameworks. Based on the analysis, targeted development pathways are proposed to facilitate R & D advancement, practical implementation, and systematic capability-building for autonomous ships in China, providing strategic guidance for the industry’s development.

The vortex-induced vibration (VIV) of a cylinder with mass ratio 2.6 and damping ratio 0.0036 at different reduced velocities has been numerically simulated based on the overset grid method. The amplitude, frequency ratio, wake vortex shedding modes and nonlinear characteristics of the VIV response are systematically analyzed. With the increase of the reduced velocity, the VIV response of the cylinder switches four times, but only once the phase difference between the transverse flow vibration response and the vortex force coefficient changes abruptly, which causes the wake vortex shedding mode to change from “2T” mode to “2P” mode. In addition, the velocity variation range of the VIV of the cylinder is smaller than its displacement variation range under any reduced velocities. When the reduced velocity is 4.0, the VIV of the cylinder is chaotic in both the streamwise and transverse directions. When the reduced velocity is 8.0, the VIV of the cylinder is also chaotic in the transverse direction, but still is self-limited. Under the other reduced velocities, the vibrations of the cylinder are regular and stable in the streamwise and transverse directions.