Self-Navigating Ships

There are lots of good reasons to develop ships that can run without captains or crews. In military applications, they can hunt for submarines and underwater mines without endangering lives. In the commercial sector, they could not only reduce costs but also improve safety in areas that are plagued by pirates.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) will soon be testing a new generation of unmanned ships off the coast of San Diego. Called the “Sea Hunter,” it’s nothing like the remote-controlled vessels that are currently in use. The 132-foot, self-driving ship can travel up to 10,000 nautical miles at a speed of up to 30 miles per hour and is equipped with radar, sonar, cameras and global positioning systems to maneuver itself. Although the ship will be manned with human operators during the testing phase, it is designed to be deployed for months at a time – able to travel from San Diego to Guam on twin diesel engines.

The prototype cost about $120 million to develop, but DARPA states that additional vessels will be able to be produced for about $20 million each.