Having completing the company sponsorship strategy for the Mayflower Autonomous Ship, BDS have been employed to undertake the sponsorship sales process for this totally revolutionary development in marine transportation.
The Mayflower will be the first full size (100ft long) totally unmanned ship to sail The Atlantic. Powered solely by renewable energy, construction of the ship will start later this year; and then, after testing, sail The Atlantic in 2020. This unique, indeed historic, voyage in 2020 will also mark the 400th Anniversary of the founding of Modern America and follow the path of the original Mayflower in taking the first pilgrims to America.
Driverless Cars, Drones, Autonomously Controlled Vehicles on Mars and very soon there will be a full size autonomous ship first sailing the Atlantic. And ultimately around The Globe. The first ship in an industry forecasted by Reuters in 2015 to grow to $11 Billion by 2020.
The objectives of the MAS programme are to:
- Develop cutting edge green technology and to be able to dramatically reduce marine Diesel engine emissions
- To combat marine piracy and to enable more wide ranging meteorological, oceanographic and climate data gathering, through being able to safely undertake such research in extreme marine environments
The ship is a collaboration between MSubs, one of the UK’s fastest growing and most innovative companies, The Marine Institute at Plymouth University and the award winning Shuttleworth Design. MSubs have already produced a range of large-scale unmanned, underwater, surface and hybrid vehicles including the world’s largest unmanned seagoing submarine, MASTT.
A very outline initial story about the ship, but not the voyage, has already been picked up by The BBC, ITV, The Times and a number of other leading media sources, both industry and non-industry specific. It is anticipated that, following the official launch of the MAS programme, there will be worldwide media coverage and that this will continue through for the duration of the voyage across the Atlantic in 2020.
Last Updated on February 24, 2026
