A fully autonomous ship named for the Mayflower, the ship that sailed to what is now the eastern U.S. state of Massachusetts, left Plymouth Harbor in southwestern Britain Tuesday to retrace the original’s 5,000-kilometer voyage.

If successful, the 15-meter Mayflower 400 would be the largest autonomous vessel to cross the Atlantic. The $1.3 million ship was built by a nonprofit marine research organization named ProMare in partnership with the computer-tech giant IBM. It is powered by a combination of wind and solar energy, with a back-up diesel generator.

ProMare co-founder and project director Brett Phaneuf said the ship is designed to test details ⇒

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