In the waters near Portsmouth Naval Base, a small black boat recently roared about with no one at the controls. It hadn’t run amok after the pilot fell overboard, but was instead a demonstration of a new robotic system developed by ASV and BAE Systems.
The technology package of this Autonomous System Naval Boat can be retrofitted to the RIB (Rigid Inflatable Boat) used by the Royal Navy to turn them into high-speed, autonomous, unmanned reconnaissance and surveillance platforms.