From Dinghy to Autonomous Submarine Systems
The changing security landscape is putting new demands on the defense industry, where products and systems need to be developed faster and under greater pressure. For Peter Karlström, Product Manager Naval Autonomy, the job combines a lifelong passion with the chance to help build new capability.
Peter’s love of the sea has been with him his whole life. His relationship with ships started with a sailing dinghy when he was eight years old.
"The sea has always mattered to me. It's where I can breathe and feel free," he says.
That love never faded, it kept growing throughout his life, eventually leading him to the Naval Academy in Kalmar and a marine engineering degree.
"I've spent countless hours with big machinery on ships. It's a great education, because on a ship, you're truly on your own. If you're out in the middle of the Atlantic, you must solve problems with whatever knowledge, tools, and spare parts you've got on board," says Peter Karlström.
After 13 years at Saab, Peter left the company for another job. But less than a year later the war in Ukraine broke out, and Peter figured he was probably best suited to being a weapons-maker after all. So, he came back in 2022, taking on a role as product lead for submarines. About three months in, he took over leadership of the research and development project focused on autonomy.
"The clear directive was that we needed to start offering real products. You can't sell R&D to a customer."
An "iOS" for Autonomous Vehicles
That became the mission for Peter and his roughly 30 colleagues: turning that R&D into actual products.
The goal isn't just to build unmanned vehicles; that's simply the next natural step in maritime defense technology. In simple terms, it's about building a shared software platform for autonomous marine systems. Think of it like an "iOS" for autonomous vehicles.
"The same core software should work whether it's a combat boat, a smaller vessel, or an underwater vehicle. We're not just building rugged marine vehicles. we're pairing that with a completely new way of thinking about software," he says.
A Partnership Between Human and Machine
Peter points out that autonomous systems are, above all, about solving concrete problems. Looking ahead, he believes they'll become a natural part of everyday life for armed forces, but the real technological shift will come once these systems are used operationally and end users start shaping their development firsthand.
"Autonomous systems can take over the boring tasks, help out in dangerous situations, and give us faster analysis of huge amounts of information. Why should someone sit out in the middle of the Baltic Sea manning a radar for a week? That person could instead sit in a bunker and monitor ten of those units at once."
At the same time, he stresses that AI isn't some magic fix. What really matters going forward is the interplay between humans and machines.
"A neural network today can look at just a few pixels and tell whether it's a buoy, a boat, or a drone. But humans are still far better at understanding context. The real value of autonomy comes down to how fast you can get the right information to a person who can make a decision," he explains.
"No One Owns the Whole Puzzle"
"The most effective way to grow is to be faced with problems you can't really solve yet. Sometimes it feels like being new on the job again, even after 17 years here. You get to keep learning new things all the way to retirement."
Peter describes a culture that's innovative and challenging, but also supportive, everyone knows they're working together towards something bigger.
"People are always looking toward the horizon, asking: what's next? And no one owns the whole puzzle themselves, that's what makes it fun. I have to find my puzzle partners to build the full picture. That's when one plus one turns into three, and that's when this field gets really exciting," says Peter, before finishing with:
"When we build something, ultimately it's about the people within the Armed Forces who'll be using our products in real, high-stakes situations. Our work could be the difference in whether someone gets to see their family again."
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