Boston’s Blue Water Autonomy is developing fully autonomous naval vessels that will be able to operate on the ocean for months at a time. The shipbuilding company is one step closer to deploying its technology following its $50 million Series A round, spearheaded by Google Ventures.
Blue Water Autonomy’s design for its unmanned ship incorporates hardware, software and AI. The full-sized vessel measures approximately 60 yards in length and is intended to be highly producible, affordable and capable of delivering varied payloads. While initially focused on handling traditional naval assets, the company foresees its solution eventually competing in commercial maritime markets to automate monotonous or dangerous at-sea jobs.
Since Blue Water Automony’s seed round in April, the company has quadrupled the size of its team and completed successful engineering tests on the water. Backed by a total of $64 million in funding, the company is set to build and deliver its first long-range, full-sized autonomous ship for the U.S. Navy in 2026.
