Skip to main content

Boaty McBoatface’s new Antarctic mission will be its toughest yet

Matt Cardy/Stringer/Getty Images

Boaty McBoatface’s Third Voyage sounds more like the closing entry in a Pixar movie trilogy than it does an impressive oceangoing feat set to take place later this year. In fact, it refers to the upcoming third mission for Autosub Long Range, the vessel nicknamed “Boaty McBoatface” as the consolation prize in a British public vote.

The challenging mission will see Boaty explore the ocean cavity beneath Thwaites Glacier in the Amundsen Sea sector of western Antarctica. Set to take place this fall, the mission will examine the effects of warming ocean waters on the glacier. This melting could trigger an unstable retreat of the West Antarctic ice sheet, which may result in sea levels rising by more than two meters. Data gathered by the good ship McBoatface will be used to produce more robust forecasts of future sea level rise.

Recommended Videos

“As with the previous mission where Autosub Long Range was sent beneath an Antarctic ice shelf, the major challenge is that presented by the presence of the ice shelf itself,” Peter Davis, a physical oceanographer with the British Antarctic Survey, told Digital Trends. “Once Autosub Long Range has entered the ice shelf cavity, there is no ability for it to communicate with the ship, nor is it able to surface to find its location via GPS. Therefore it must accurately navigate for the duration of its mission, ensuring it will exit the cavity and be recovered to the supporting research vessel. Whilst in the cavity it must also think for itself, avoiding any obstacles presented by the seabed and the ice base.”

Adding to Boaty’s headaches is the freezing ocean temperatures, which will severely impact the autonomous vessels’ battery life. As a result, the mission must be precisely planned to ensure that the vehicle retains enough power to complete its scientific objectives, while also being able to navigate and propel itself.

“By sending Autosub Long Range beneath Thwaites Glacier, we are sampling a critical area of the ocean that cannot be reached using traditional observation methods from ocean-based research ships,” Davis continued. “The information it gathers will give a unique picture of the ocean conditions within the ice shelf cavity. Autosub Long Range will measure the temperature and the salinity of the ocean beneath Thwaites Glacier, as well as the current speeds and the amount [of] turbulence in the water. These observations will help us better understand how Thwaites Glacier is responding to the changing climate, as well as what processes are setting the rate at which it is melting from beneath.”

Luke Dormehl
Former Digital Trends Contributor
I'm a UK-based tech writer covering Cool Tech at Digital Trends. I've also written for Fast Company, Wired, the Guardian…
BYD’s cheap EVs might remain out of Canada too
BYD Han

With Chinese-made electric vehicles facing stiff tariffs in both Europe and America, a stirring question for EV drivers has started to arise: Can the race to make EVs more affordable continue if the world leader is kept out of the race?

China’s BYD, recognized as a global leader in terms of affordability, had to backtrack on plans to reach the U.S. market after the Biden administration in May imposed 100% tariffs on EVs made in China.

Read more
Tesla posts exaggerate self-driving capacity, safety regulators say
Beta of Tesla's FSD in a car.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is concerned that Tesla’s use of social media and its website makes false promises about the automaker’s full-self driving (FSD) software.
The warning dates back from May, but was made public in an email to Tesla released on November 8.
The NHTSA opened an investigation in October into 2.4 million Tesla vehicles equipped with the FSD software, following three reported collisions and a fatal crash. The investigation centers on FSD’s ability to perform in “relatively common” reduced visibility conditions, such as sun glare, fog, and airborne dust.
In these instances, it appears that “the driver may not be aware that he or she is responsible” to make appropriate operational selections, or “fully understand” the nuances of the system, NHTSA said.
Meanwhile, “Tesla’s X (Twitter) account has reposted or endorsed postings that exhibit disengaged driver behavior,” Gregory Magno, the NHTSA’s vehicle defects chief investigator, wrote to Tesla in an email.
The postings, which included reposted YouTube videos, may encourage viewers to see FSD-supervised as a “Robotaxi” instead of a partially automated, driver-assist system that requires “persistent attention and intermittent intervention by the driver,” Magno said.
In one of a number of Tesla posts on X, the social media platform owned by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, a driver was seen using FSD to reach a hospital while undergoing a heart attack. In another post, a driver said he had used FSD for a 50-minute ride home. Meanwhile, third-party comments on the posts promoted the advantages of using FSD while under the influence of alcohol or when tired, NHTSA said.
Tesla’s official website also promotes conflicting messaging on the capabilities of the FSD software, the regulator said.
NHTSA has requested that Tesla revisit its communications to ensure its messaging remains consistent with FSD’s approved instructions, namely that the software provides only a driver assist/support system requiring drivers to remain vigilant and maintain constant readiness to intervene in driving.
Tesla last month unveiled the Cybercab, an autonomous-driving EV with no steering wheel or pedals. The vehicle has been promoted as a robotaxi, a self-driving vehicle operated as part of a ride-paying service, such as the one already offered by Alphabet-owned Waymo.
But Tesla’s self-driving technology has remained under the scrutiny of regulators. FSD relies on multiple onboard cameras to feed machine-learning models that, in turn, help the car make decisions based on what it sees.
Meanwhile, Waymo’s technology relies on premapped roads, sensors, cameras, radar, and lidar (a laser-light radar), which might be very costly, but has met the approval of safety regulators.

Read more
Waymo, Nexar present AI-based study to protect ‘vulnerable’ road users
waymo data vulnerable road users ml still  1 ea18c3

Robotaxi operator Waymo says its partnership with Nexar, a machine-learning tech firm dedicated to improving road safety, has yielded the largest dataset of its kind in the U.S., which will help inform the driving of its own automated vehicles.

As part of its latest research with Nexar, Waymo has reconstructed hundreds of crashes involving what it calls ‘vulnerable road users’ (VRUs), such as pedestrians walking through crosswalks, biyclists in city streets, or high-speed motorcycle riders on highways.

Read more