Roboat.MIT CSAIL.
- MIT engineers spent five years developing self-driving boats.
- The new Roboat II is large enough to transport people.
- It can also navigate its way through canals autonomously using the same technology as self-driving cars.
Self-driving cars get most of the attention, but engineers at MIT have been quietly working on an autonomous boat for the last five years, and it just got a big upgrade.
MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) teamed up with the Senseable City Lab to create a self-driving boat able to navigate the canals of Amsterdam. Now, the Roboat II is large enough to hold passengers for the first time. Advances in navigation and control algorithms have also made the Roboats capable of connecting and communicating with each other to form coordinated fleets.
From MIT's pools to the Charles River in Cambridge and Boston, the Roboat II has graduated to canals in Amsterdam. Take a look here.