
China Develops High-Speed Intelligent Unmanned Sea Vessel - prostoalex
http://www.defense-aerospace.com/articles-view/release/3/178544/china-testing-composite_built-unmanned-surface-vessel.html
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logfromblammo
Unmanned vessels currently cannot operate legally in international waters, as
they do not meet the minimum crew requirements.

Also, with no crew aboard, the registered owner of the vessel will be on the
hook to pay for any salvage operation that may be required to mitigate
environmental damage or damage to the vessel. Also, tech-savvy pirates may
find an un-crewed vessel to be easy pickings, with no one around to prevent
boarding, disconnect of remote control, and disabling of tracking devices.

The technical challenges of making it _possible_ are only the first obstacles
to making it economically viable. Being able to enter ports and get maritime
insurance is critical.

But if the kinks can be smoothed out, unmanned ship technology will almost
certainly be moving goods from Shanghai to Long Beach soon after. Otherwise,
only military groups will bother trying.

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blakeyrat
It's only 10 meters long, it'd have a tough time going out of coastal waters
no matter what. (Unless it's very resistant to being flipped or swamped, which
I suppose is possible.)

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oxide
wouldn't an unmanned submersible make more sense?

why bother being above the water if there are no crew on board to breathe air,
anyway?

it seems like a submersible would be ideal for certain military applications,
patrolling, or whatever else you'd use a robot boat for.

also, I'd bet drug smugglers would really appreciate getting their hands on an
unmanned submersible.

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blakeyrat
Maybe they're working on one. You gotta walk before you run.

A submarine would have to be _very_ autonomous, though. Getting a high-
bandwidth signal to it for real-time control (without it surfacing) would be a
huge challenge. A surface ship can just use old-fashioned radio.

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knodi123
so, it's a weaponized drone boat with sophisticated autopilot? I can't imagine
the combination of "light weapons" and "totally autonomous" being deployed in
the real world, today...

