Autonomous Cargo Ships are becoming a thing...Is this the solution to our sealift of heavy equipment?

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KONGSBERG is installing and testing autonomous technology on two vessels for use especially in short sea coastal shipping and Europe's inland waterways. This project, AUTOSHIP, is awarded almost NOK 200 million in funding as part of the Horizon 2020 EU research programme. This is one of the largest grants ever given to Norwegian players. The project is realized also thanks to our partners Eidsvaag, Blue Line Logistics NV, Der Vlaamse Waterweg NV, the Norwegian Research Council, Sintef Ocean and more. . . . #SINTEF #norway #autoship #horizon2020 #EU #autonomous #vessel #technology #shipping #greenshipping

A post shared by KONGSBERG (@kongsbergasa) on Jan 21, 2020 at 4:30am PST

We've all seen the reports of how badly our snap deployment exercise of our sealift went.  Could autonomous ships be the solution?  I'm not sure but imagine a high speed heavy lift ship that could be loaded with gear, given coordinates and then sent on its way at a moments notice.

Hell if prestocked it could allow basing of our gear in the Continental US, and if they're fast enough arrive 5- 10 or so days later anywhere on the globe...if things look like they're going south then early deployment could even send a signal that would rival diverting an aircraft carrier.