The Mayflower Autonomous Ship finally arrived on the coast of Nova Scotia last month, marking the end of its long trek across the Atlantic. While the modern Mayflower is far from the first vessel to make that voyage, this small robotic boat is the largest to ever do so navigated by artificial intelligence with no humans aboard. A few technical hiccups notwithstanding, its trip is the latest evidence that the future of the high seas could be autonomous. Slowly, self-steering ships are becoming a reality. In Norway, an autonomous battery-powered container vessel is shuttling fertilizer between a factory and a local port, and pending a successful trial, it could be fully certified within the next two years.

The system is now advanced in accuracy. Roboat II autonomously navigated the canals of Amsterdam for three hours collecting data and returned back to its start location with an error margin of only 0.17 meters, or fewer than 7 inches. There are now advanced navigation and control algorithms for communication and collaboration between boats. The system is modeled on an ant colony using a distributed controller. In this model, there is no direct communication among the connected robots -- only one leader knows the destination.

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.

Need to bridge a wide pond or canal in a pinch, or perhaps a backyard pool? Robots pioneered by researchers at MIT and the Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions (AMS Institute) might fit the bill. Dubbed robotic boats, or roboats, they're autonomous platforms designed to "shapeshift" at will by reassembling into different configurations. As MIT's Rob Matheson explains in a blog post, the roboats -- rectangular hulls packing sensors, thrusters, microcontrollers, GPS modules, cameras, and other hardware -- are the fruit of the ongoing Roboat joint project between MIT and the AMS Institute. Its longstanding goal is to create structures capable of ferrying goods and people along Amsterdam's over 160 canals, and of self-assembling into bridges that could help reduce pedestrian congestion.

Three experimental automation projects tell the tale of a future piloted by robots.

MIT's fleet of robotic boats has been updated with new capabilities to "shapeshift," by autonomously disconnecting and reassembling into a variety of configurations, to form floating structures in Amsterdam's many canals. The autonomous boats -- rectangular hulls equipped with sensors, thrusters, microcontrollers, GPS modules, cameras, and other hardware -- are being developed as part of the ongoing "Roboat" project between MIT and the Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions (AMS Institute). The project is led by MIT professors Carlo Ratti, Daniela Rus, Dennis Frenchman, and Andrew Whittle. In the future, Amsterdam wants the roboats to cruise its 165 winding canals, transporting goods and people, collecting trash, or self-assembling into "pop-up" platforms -- such as bridges and stages -- to help relieve congestion on the city's busy streets. In 2016, MIT researchers tested a roboat prototype that could move forward, backward, and laterally along a preprogrammed path in the canals.

The city of Amsterdam envisions a future where fleets of autonomous boats cruise its many canals to transport goods and people, collect trash, or self-assemble into floating stages and bridges. To further that vision, MIT researchers have given new capabilities to their fleet of robotic boats -- which are being developed as part of an ongoing project -- that lets them target and clasp onto each other, and keep trying if they fail. About a quarter of Amsterdam's surface area is water, with 165 canals winding alongside busy city streets. Several years ago, MIT and the Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions (AMS Institute) teamed up on the "Roboat" project. The idea is to build a fleet of autonomous robotic boats -- rectangular hulls equipped with sensors, thrusters, microcontrollers, GPS modules, cameras, and other hardware -- that provides intelligent mobility on water to relieve congestion in the city's busy streets.

Despite many developers' efforts to teach cars to steer themselves around roads filled with human drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists, the first great wave of autonomous vehicles may not arrive on land. Instead, it might follow the time-honored tradition of running away from tricky problems by heading for the open seas. Rather than worrying about robo-taxis, groups around the world are working on making ships--large and small--self-piloting, which could save fuel, prevent expensive accidents and groundings, and relieve crews of some of mundanity of life on the water. Let's start at the big end of the scale. Container ships and other behemoths may not have to deal with rogue scooters, but they come with their own challenges.

The future of transportation in waterway-rich cities such as Amsterdam, Bangkok, and Venice -- where canals run alongside and under bustling streets and bridges -- may include autonomous boats that ferry goods and people, helping clear up road congestion. Researchers from MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) and the Senseable City Lab in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP), have taken a step toward that future by designing a fleet of autonomous boats that offer high maneuverability and precise control. The boats can also be rapidly 3-D printed using a low-cost printer, making mass manufacturing more feasible. The boats could be used to taxi people around and to deliver goods, easing street traffic. In the future, the researchers also envision the driverless boats being adapted to perform city services overnight, instead of during busy daylight hours, further reducing congestion on both roads and canals.

Unmanned marine vehicles will use sensors & AI to crisscross the world's oceans without a crew – potentially lowering costs & improving safety for the $334B shipping sector. Just as driverless cars and trucks are bringing huge changes to the auto industry, and drones are disrupting everything from emergency response to conservation, autonomous ships are becoming the next major transportation innovation. A number of startups and governments are piloting "unmanned marine vehicles" or crewless cargo boats, with the potential to disrupt the $334B shipping industry. Rolls-Royce already demonstrated the world's first remotely operated commercial vessel earlier this year, and the US military is testing an experimental, autonomous warship called the Sea Hunter. Fully autonomous ships aren't yet allowed in international waters.