The invisible network that keeps the world running

[flashman]

Here's a premise for you: autonomous cargo ships, incorporated as their own entities, bidding on freight contracts and offering transport through a system not unlike an AdWords bidding auction. They circle the world constantly, offloading and picking up cargo from sail-through offshore platforms, stopping only for maintenance, and occasionally doing really strange things for reasons only their algorithms can explain.

[swatow]

When things move so slowly, there is no advantage to being autonomous. And it makes little difference economically who the owners are. Right now, ships will change their speeds based on changes in interest rates, since it is more fuel efficient to move slowly, but when interest rates go up, it is worthwhile to get the cargo to its destination quicker.

[thret]

This idea sounds very similar to the one of driverless cars owning themselves: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-30998361

[wyager]

Throw in the ability to do complex live learning/optimization and you have a recipe for some really interesting behavior.

[205guy]

For those who want a peek into the maritime industries (shipping, offshore extraction, navies, tourism, etc) and their concerns (commodity prices, shipwrecks, arctic warming, big engine tech): gcaptain.com

[reitanqild]

Thanks! I didn't know and I've been working in the industry for many moons already.

My go-to site for offshore is the local http://www.offshore.no/international/

Anyone else has good resources?

[joosters]

A book suggestion for anyone who would like to read more: "Ninety percent of everything"

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ninety-Percent-Everything-Shipping-I...

[hga]

And a book thoroughly covering this from the beginning, which also provides a physical world example of successful but painful standards creation: The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger http://www.amazon.com/Box-Shipping-Container-Smaller-Economy...

[Animats]

Wait until he visits Rotterdam. It's all robot cranes and robot vehicles.