Get ready, self-driving boats are coming, too

When it comes to autonomous vehicles why stop on land when you can expand to the seas? The two groups announced on Monday that they have joined forces to create the cleverly named Roboat to explore the possibilities of creating self-driving boats. The boats would be used for a variety of functions, including transporting people and goods, but would also be capable of much more. "Imagine a fleet of autonomous boats for the transportation of goods and people," says Carlo Ratti, professor at MIT and principal investigator in the Roboat-program in a statement announcing the partnership, "but also think of dynamic and temporary floating infrastructure like on-demand bridges and stages, that can be assembled or disassembled in a matter of hours." As part of the research project MIT will be contributing 20 million out of a five-year budget of 25 million (about 27.9 million), and while the project will be based in Amsterdam the group hopes to apply its findings to other urbans areas around the world.