If the idea was to see if a ship could make it without any humans, we think we may have the answer by now
No, this isn’t deja vu. IBM’s self-sailing Mayflower ship, tasked with making it across the Atlantic without any humans onboard to help, has suffered yet another mechanical glitch preventing it from continuing its intended journey. Named after the vessel that brought passengers from England to America in the 17th century, the Mayflower Autonomous Ship (MAS) was expected to retrace that historical voyage. But its attempts to cross the ocean, led by ProMare – a non-profit organization focused on marine research, with support from IBM – haven’t exactly gone smoothly. We admire the tenacity and the project’s aims but we’re not going to pretend this has been perfect. The first attempt last year ended in failure. In April this year, the team sent the Mayflower back out to sea – to sail from Plymouth, UK, to Washington DC in the US – but it broke down briefly last month and had to be repaired. Now, just over a week after the most recent fix, it appears to have malfunctioned yet again at sea.
