Future of ships

Another “leader in autonomy for ships” is getting in the race:

This “MayFlower Autonomous Ship” is supposed to be ready to cross the pond, departing soon…


(older link leads here too)

I will watch with interest - particularly to see how the AI copes with traffic, weather etc.
If it meets any “Burly Ark of War”, it could be very interesting…

… or maybe not quite ready for the departure as stated in schedule on IBM site above -

lets say you sit in an office with a crack bridge team.
With full 360 screens with views from a remove vessel, radar, ais etc, how many vessels would you be happy to control assuming they are 100 miles apart?

When they are slowing for a port the local guys / pilots take over for approaches and departures.
No pilots required to transfer to a vessel
There is a system to allow tugs to connect up without crew on board the ship.
Later there will be no tugs as ships built with huge thrusters.

One more article about the launch of Mayflower 2 recently:

They are planning for a spring departure from the UK:

Which route did the Mayflower take, the Northern or Southern route?

What route?
After poking around various sources, I can’t find anything resembling a route.
Eventually left on 6th Sept (16th by new calendar) sighted Cape Cod and arrived after 66days. Mention of eqinoctial storms, burials, but nothing navigational. That’s it!
But those ships did not sail to windward, so surely they must have gone south.

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