Mayflower Autonomous Ship Reaches Canada After Suffering Mechanical Issues
Brett Davis is a lifelong journalist and writer with extensive experience writing about defense issues and technology. He studied journalism and photography at the University of North Alabama in his hometown of Florence and then earned a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri. He worked for a dozen years as Washington Correspondent for the Huntsville Times newspaper, then became editor of Aerospace Daily & Defense Report, published at the time by McGraw-Hill. He served as content manager for Backfence.com, a pioneering local journalism website, was editor of Unmanned Systems magazine at the Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International and editor in chief of Inside Unmanned Systems magazine for Autonomous Media. He previously served as Deputy Editor of Seapower magazine. He’s also a fiction writer: His latest, The Moon Above, is the story of a Tuskegee Airman published by Scarsdale Publishing.
HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA — After a 40-day voyage, and after more than year of delay due to a mechanical problem, the Mayflower autonomous ship arrived in North America, at Halifax, Nova Scotia on June 5, announced program partners IBM and ProMare.
The ship has been dogged by mechanical problems even as its artificial intelligence guidance system was able to guide it across the ocean.
The catamaran traveled from Plymouth, United Kingdom, to Halifax, and later is expected to make appearances in the Washington, D.C. area. According to IBM, it’s the first nautical vessel to complete an unmanned, crewless voyage across the Atlantic.
Mayflower was intended to reach Plymouth, Massachusetts. Over the May 28-29 weekend, the Mayflower developed an issue with the charging circuit for the generator starter batteries, according to IBM.
On May 30, the team had to switch to the back-up navigation PC. ProMare decided to divert to Halifax, Nova Scotia, as the closest viable port, to investigate and fix these issues.
The ship was designed and built by marine research nonprofit ProMare, with IBM acting as lead technology and science partner.
Artificial intelligence and edge computing technologies underpin the ship’s AI Captain, which uses six cameras, more than 30 sensors and 15 edge computing devices to help make decisions.
“This makes it possible for the AI Captain to adhere to maritime law while making crucial split-second decisions, like rerouting itself around hazards or marine animals, all without human interaction or intervention,” IBM said in a blog post.