Not much, the world has changed much since that persistent day in 1602 when, coming from Plymouth in England, the iconic ship Mayflower arrived on the east coast of the United States and Canada with a hundred pilgrims willing to settle a new civilization on the other side of the Atlantic and, with it, planted the seeds that, for the most part, gave way little by little to today’s North America as we know it.

More than four centuries later, technology dominates the world, there is no doubt about that. And voyages undertaken in such treacherous and primitive conditions are now carried out by comfortable and safe flights of several hours or on ships that lack no luxury detail… although the hitherto important figure for this type of voyage is missing: the man in charge. master the wheel and that the ride is done on time without any fear.

Robotics has taken another step in what is already an achievement in autonomous driving. A self-driving boat has made the same journey as the Mayflower in its day, from England to, this time, Halifax, in Canada’s Nova Scotia region and in just five weeks.

Built by IBM’s leading technology company, This autonomous boat has been able to travel without a driver, being piloted solely thanks to artificial intelligence. It is a boat about 15 meters long, with no people on board, and has been able to make the same journey as the first settlers did, marking the before and after for future driving projects without responsible personnel.

Constructed of carbon fiber and aluminum, and weighing in at five tonnes, it is capable of reaching a maximum speed of 37.04 km per hour. For this, he had used a propulsion system that combines wind and solar energy and also diesel generator sets which are only used when needed.

“The technology that makes up the autonomous system works flawlessly, without fail,” said Rob High, a computer executive at IBM and one of the main proponents of the project. This time yes, the test has been successfully passed. The same thing didn’t happen a year ago: his first attempt to cross the Atlantic Ocean in June 2021 had to deal with technical problemsand the revamped Mayflower had to return to England.

Already in April this year, the feat was attempted again but the problem with the generator was redirected to the island of the Azores in Portugal, where A team member had to go there to do some emergency repairs. Also in May, on the high seas, problems arose with the charging circuit of the generator starter battery.

However, this time, IBM’s autonomous ship has completed its journey and laying the groundwork for “colonizing” the self-driving vehicle sector. Choice of where various companies work, especially in the automotive sector.