CAPTAIN AI

IN 2022, A VESSEL WITH NO HUMANS ABOARD SET SAIL ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. WOULD ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE .BE ENOUGH TO KEEP IT AFLOAT?

- BRENDAN CROWLEY

ON APRIL 27TH, 2022, shortly after dawn, a ship called the Mayflower left its berth at the Port of Plymouth in England. Conditions were tranquil in Plymouth Sound: no wind, no waves, and an outgoing tide. As it maneuvered past fishing boats, the 50-foot-long and 20-foot-wide Mayflower could be mistaken for a pleasure craft, if not for its curiously futuristic design. Set low to the water like a kayak, the sleek trimaran resembled a starfighter from Star Wars, gliding across the sea's surface, and bore no resemblance to its namesake that had left Plymouth 402 years earlier. The word emblazoned on both sides of the Mayflower's exterior added further intrigue: Unmanned.

When the vessel, officially called the Mayflower Autonomous Ship, reached the 12-mile mark of its morning journey, the pilot boat acting as its maritime escort fell back. A second support boat, the Talisman, carried on for another hour in the Mayflower's wake, until it peeled away.

For approximately the next three weeks, the Mayflower planned to sail across the Atlantic Ocean, covering over 3,000 miles en route to Virginia Beach, Virginia. On its face, this voyage-which the boat was attempting for the second time-was rather unremarkable. A steady stream of traffic constantly traverses the Atlantic; on vessel-tracking websites, the vast body of water resembles a Jackson Pollock painting.

The autonomous Mayflower's proposed voyage, however, was unique. The ship would cross the Atlantic with no humans onboard and no offshore navigational support, an eyebrow-raising plan, even by the inherently audacious standards of the autonomous-vessel industry. Successful transatlantic crossings by uncrewed ships in years past had come with caveats; one vessel was impractically small, while another followed waypoints set by humans.