US Navy getting Defiant: Unmanned ship highlights innovation

Recommendable!

DARPA launches warship NOMARS designed 'from the ground up' to be truly unmanned. Sea trials start Spring 2025

Good news!

"... successfully launched and will soon begin sea trials for its new warship built from the ground up to sail without any humans aboard.

“The No Manning Required Ship (NOMARS) program has built a ship designed to operate autonomously for long durations at sea,” according to a statement from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency on Tuesday. “Construction of the prototype, unmanned surface vessel (USV) was completed in February 2025.”

Sea trials for the ship, dubbed Defiant  (USX-1) and which does not have any mission or combat systems installed onboard, are scheduled for spring 2025, the statement added. ..."

"... Defiant is a 180’, 240-metric-ton lightship that will undergo extensive in-water testing, both dockside and at sea. She is scheduled to depart for a multi-month at sea demonstration in spring 2025. ..."

No sailors in sight: DARPA launches warship designed 'from the ground up' to be truly unmanned - Breaking Defense "Produced by SERCO through the research agency's NOMARS program, the ship has been named Defiant (USX-1)."

DARPA: No Manning Required Ship (NOMARS)

DARPA’s NOMARS is a 180-footlong warship designed from the ground up to not have humans aboard.

First self-driving urban ferry started operating in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden

Autonomous ship ahoy! Perhaps coming to a ferry near you soon! 😊 Maybe we have autonomous ferries long before autonomous cars? A human captain is still aboard for how long?

"A [human] captain oversees the autonomous craft but doesn't need to touch the controls, and from Monday, the MF Estelle will begin plying short routes between islands in Stockholm. ...

The boat is fitted with radar, cameras, lidar laser and ultrasonic systems, compiling the data to steer its course, the Norwegian company's operative chief Erik Nilsson said.

"If a boat changes direction or if there's a canoe we see it right away in less than a second. We update the course accordingly," he added. ..."

First self-driving urban ferry sets sail in Stockholm A self-driving electric ferry set sail in Stockholm on Thursday, making the Swedish capital the world's first city to put the technology to use, the company behind it said.

Autonomous ships are on the horizon and will be on the seven seas

Recommendable! A long article covering this subject!

The dawn of autonomous ships! The potential is enormous! E.g. how much would it reduce shipping costs and speed up delivery etc..

Such ships can e.g. take other routes that would be avoided by ships with sailors (e.g. around the north pole).

"In January last year, a Japanese car ferry, the Soleil, became the first large vessel to navigate without human intervention. The 220-metre-long ship automatically berthed and unberthed, turned, reversed and steered itself for 240 kilometres across the Iyonada Sea from Shinmoji in northern Kyushu — manoeuvres that even skilled human operators find challenging.

It is early days, but ships are increasingly deploying sensors and artificial-intelligence (AI) systems to navigate, steer and avoid collisions. As with cars, such advances should improve safety, increase efficiency and — along with cleaner fuels and engines — reduce environmental impacts.

This is crucial: 80% of global trade (around 11 billion tonnes) is transported by sea each year1. In 2018, shipping generated around 3% (about 1,000 million tonnes) of global carbon dioxide emissions2. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has committed to halving the industry’s greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050. ..."

Autonomous ships are on the horizon: here’s what we need to know

US, China compete over unmanned warships; US planning to launch more ships in its Navy

Next round in the arms race! Other NATO countries are also developing unmanned ships for their navies.

2 autonomous electric barges built at the Cochin Shipyard in India ordered by and delivered to Norway

This is big news!

AI, AI, Captain! How the Mayflower Autonomous Ship will cross the Atlantic

The future of shipping is here! How soon will autonomous ships cross the oceans? Perhaps sooner than autonomous cars will be on our streets!

AI, AI, Captain! How the Mayflower Autonomous Ship will cross the Atlantic | VentureBeat: Th IBM and Promare will trial a prototype of an AI-powered maritime navigation system ahead of an attempt to send a crewless ship across the Atlantic.