of Menlo Park, California raised USD 6.8 million in seed funding and signed a memorandum of understanding with Japan's , an investor, to build its autonomous landing craft in Japan. The is designed to carry cargo to forces without ports or cranes: it sails autonomously, beaches itself, unloads and retracts, including without GPS.
The company says a 15-foot prototype completed an unmanned transit, beach landing, cargo offload and departure earlier this year. It is developing 35-foot and 55-foot versions sized for one and two 20-foot shipping containers. Production in Japan is a plan under a memorandum, not yet a contract.
Source: workboat.com
Limits
The demonstration is the company's account of a small prototype; larger versions are in design.