Autonomous boats could be your next ride

Alongside the Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions, the team also created navigation and control algorithms to update the communication and collaboration among the boats. "Roboat II navigates autonomously using algorithms similar to those used by self-driving cars, but now adapted for water," says MIT Professor Daniela Rus, a senior author on a new paper about Roboat and the director of CSAIL. "We're developing fleets of Roboats that can deliver people and goods, and connect with other Roboats to form a range of autonomous platforms to enable water activities." Self-driving boats have been able to transport small items for years, but adding human passengers has felt somewhat intangible due to the current size of the vessels. Roboat II is the "half-scale" boat in the growing body of work, and joins the previously developed quarter-scale Roboat, which is 1 meter long.