Self-driving cars may not hit the road in earnest for many years -- but autonomous boats could be just around the pier. Spurred in part by the auto industry's race to build driverless vehicles, marine innovators are building automated ferry boats for Amsterdam canals, cargo ships that can steer themselves through Norwegian fjords and remote-controlled ships to carry containers across the Atlantic and Pacific. The first such autonomous ships could be in operation within three years. One experimental workboat spent this summer dodging tall ships and tankers in Boston Harbor, outfitted with sensors and self-navigating software and emblazoned with the words "unmanned vessel" across its aluminum hull. "We're in full autonomy now," said Jeff Gawrys, a marine technician for Boston startup Sea Machines Robotics, sitting at the helm as the boat floated through a harbor channel.

Self-driving cars are a focus for a lot of tech companies, but in Europe, a group of companies are working to bring self-driving technology to an unexpected area: the ocean. Two companies in Norway are working on an autonomous shipping boat that wouldn't need a human crew. Firms Yara International ASA and Kongsberg Gruppen are developing the Yara Birkeland and want to begin test runs with the boat starting in 2018, according to the Wall Street Journal. According to Kongsberg Gruppen, the ship will have a storage capacity of 100 to 150 twenty-foot equivalent units and will feature batteries as a major power source. The ship will use Lidar, cameras, radars and other physical sensors to power its autonomous functions.