I think the autonomous crowd have worked out it wont work till all vessels are aware of each other.
Hence all the development in the background going on now re autonomous aware vessels/drones/cars.
Then i think there will be a jump in implementation.
Just look at aircraft, they have pilots who can take control but they only go where a controller on the ground says, controller may as well have total control.
Look at us drones, anywhere in the world, pilots somewhere else.
Maybe all ships will end up with DP so easy to manage remotely?