UK-based autonomy software developer Marine AI has launched a project in the hope of granting uncrewed vessels the ability to “communicate naturally” with other ships, in the manner of a human operator. The project has received the backing of the Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA), a branch of the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) created to fund the development of innovate tech solutions for the British Armed Forces.
Marine AI will now trial a large language model (LLM), designed for ship-to-ship dialogue, using a ZeroUSV Oceanus12 USV in Plymouth and Portsmouth waters. The USV will communicate with the Royal Navy’s testbed Patrick Blackett and recently launched extra-large underwater uncrewed vehicle (XLUUV) Excalibur (see The Naval Architect June 2025). LLMs are types of AI model designed to both understand and generate human language, which could make mixed-traffic operations at sea more viable.
Oliver Thompson, Marine AI technical director, comments: “Uncrewed platforms can only operate safely alongside conventional vessels if they can be understood. This project is about proving that an autonomous system can use natural language in a way that makes sense to mariners in real-world conditions.”
