Plans Underway for the First, Full-Size, Unmanned Ship to Cross the Atlantic

The Mayflower Autonomous Research Ship. Image by Shuttleworth Design.

U.K.'s Plymouth University has announced plans to build what it calls the first full-size unmanned ship to cross the Atlantic in an attempt to "demonstrate the possibilities for the future of shipping and ocean research through the use of automation."

The university said it intends for the Mayflower Autonomous Research Ship (MARS) to mimic the route the Mayflower took from England to Massachusetts in 1620, and plans the mark the 400th anniversary of the journey by launching the autonomous ship in 2020. 

The ship is intended to be powered by renewable energy sources including wind, solar, and current, in addition to testing a number of new navigational technologies in its capacity as a research vessel. 

"While advances in technology have propelled land and air-based transport to new levels of intelligent autonomy, it has been a different story on the sea," the university said.

"The autonomous drone technology that has been used so effectively in situations considered unsuitable for humans has not been harnessed by the shipping industry, which continues to steer the conservative course, its diesel engines pumping out carbon emissions and its manned crews at risk from piracy."

The hope is that the ship will spark an "industry shift."

The MARS vessel was designed by Shuttleworth Design, and will be built in partnership with UK-based MSubs, a manufacturer of manned and unmanned subsea transport, the university said. 

In 2013, Plymouth University was reported as being part of a group testing a renewable energy system designed to transform chaotic motion from water, wind, and other sources into useable energy for ships.