The autonomous ship MayFlower, which belongs to International Business Machines (IBM) and ProMare, has just left on a journey of approximately 5.630 km in the Atlantic Ocean.

Traveling on a ship with no crew or passengers on board? Yes! IBM's autonomous MayFlower promises to travel more than 5 kilometers across the Atlantic Ocean, in celebration of the 400th anniversary of the voyage of the original ship.

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Find out all the details about the voyage of the IBM Autonomous Ship in the Atlantic Ocean

The IBM ship left the city of Plymouth, in the southwest of the United Kingdom, on a journey that will last about three weeks. During the voyage, the ship will carry out a series of experiments, collecting samples of plastic waste and data on marine life in the Atlantic Ocean.

MayFlower was designed by ProMare, a non-profit ocean research company, in partnership with IBM, which developed the who is responsible for controlling the ship.

The ship's voyage across the Atlantic Ocean is part of the commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the journey of the original Mayflower, which carried the British "Pilgrims" to establish their colonies in the "New World". According to IBM developers, the Software, called BUT (MayFlower Autonomous Ship), was created to demonstrate the technological advancement of navigation through time, from the time of the Great Navigations to the present day.

Understand the main differences between the old MayFlower and the current one

The original Ship sailed in 1620 and had three masts of about 30 meters, with canvas sails. It had the capacity to transport about 132 people and reached an average speed of 6 km/h.

The original Atlantic Ocean crossing was from Plymouth to Cape Cod, located in Massachusetts, which took approximately two months. The current Mayflower is made from an aluminum composite and features a 15m solar PV array and a backup diesel generator to power the batteries. The IBM ship is capable of reaching a speed of 20 km/h.

It is controlled by an Artificial Intelligence and receives information from 6 cameras and 50 sensors. He left Plymouth for the Isles of Scilly this Tuesday (15th) and entered the Atlantic Ocean on Wednesday (16th).

Director of the Autonomous Ship Project speaks

Brett Phaneuf, director of the project, says he feels "incredibly nervous" and that this feeling will only pass within three weeks, when the IBM ship reaches its final destination. He believes that everyone on his team is feeling the same way. Nobody has ever completed this type of trip, but the weather is perfect for it. He points out that the trip can be accompanied through the project website.