All aboard The Mayflower?

There will be no pilgrims aboard this Mayflower when it sets sail from Plymouth to the USA.

The Mayflower Autonomous Ship (MAS) will replicate the 400 year old journey which took pilgrims to colonise the New World. However, it will not have a crew and will use state of the art technology to sail the Atlantic.

Data on shipping has already been fed to the AI algorithms in advance of the voyage and this will be augmented by LIDAR (light detecting and ranging), RADAR, GPS and cameras. It will make its own decisions on navigation and measures to avoid collision but just like ET, it will be able to phone home. Of course this will be by satellite phone. (One begs the question what voice it will adopt?)

So, pop September 2020 in to your diaries as that is the launch date and also 400 years after the Mayflower set sail.

The iconoclast in me wonders if the indigenous native Americans will try and turn it back after what the first Mayflower brought them! I wouldn’t blame them but must emphasise it is unmanned.

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