Blue Water Autonomy is a Boston-based startup developing fully autonomous, captain-less ships designed to operate for months at a time across thousands of miles of open ocean. Founded in 2024 by veterans of the U.S. Navy and engineers from Amazon Robotics and iRobot, the company aims to revolutionize maritime operations for both defense and commercial sectors. Blue Water Autonomy’s vessels are engineered from the ground up with autonomy at their core, rather than retrofitting existing ships, enabling a new era of unmanned, multi-mission maritime platforms. The company’s technology is positioned to address the growing need for scalable, cost-effective solutions for logistics, surveillance, and munitions transport in contested or remote sea areas, with ambitions to expand into commercial shipping, offshore energy, and maritime tourism.
Leadership
Rylan Hamilton (Co-Founder & CEO): U.S. Navy veteran, former engineering and surface warfare officer, and co-founder of 6 River Systems. Hamilton also worked at Amazon and Shopify, bringing deep robotics and logistics expertise, and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Austin Gray (Co-Founder): U.S. Navy veteran with operational experience and a background in naval technology.
Scott Miller (Co-Founder): Former president and engineer at iRobot Corp., with extensive experience in robotics and autonomous systems.
Core Technologies
Full-Stack Autonomy Suite: Proprietary hardware and software enabling completely unmanned operation, including AI-powered navigation, obstacle avoidance, and mission execution.
Purpose-Built Ship Design: Ships are designed from scratch for autonomy, supporting long-range, high-payload missions (initially targeting 100-foot, 100-ton vessels).
Sensor Fusion and Edge Computing: Integrated sensors and onboard processing for real-time situational awareness and decision-making.
Payload Flexibility: Modular architecture allows rapid integration of various payloads for logistics, surveillance, munitions transport, or commercial applications.
Remote and Autonomous Operations: Ships can be deployed and controlled remotely or operate entirely autonomously for extended periods at sea.
Key Capabilities
Long-endurance, uncrewed missions across open ocean.
Multi-mission support: logistics delivery, surveillance, munitions transport, and more.
Scalable, highly producible platforms for both defense and commercial markets.
Real-world testing underway with saltwater trials near Boston.
Designed for rapid deployment and interoperability with other maritime and defense systems.
Investors
Eclipse Ventures (Palo Alto, CA)
Riot Ventures (Los Angeles, CA)
Impatient Ventures (Los Angeles, CA)
Blue Water Autonomy raised $14 million in seed funding in April 2025. The company is privately held; valuation details have not been disclosed.
Notable Clients
U.S. Navy: Blue Water Autonomy’s initial focus is on delivering unmanned ships to support U.S. Navy operations, with ongoing testing and concept development for defense applications.
Commercial Sector: The company is actively exploring partnerships and use cases in commercial shipping, offshore energy, industrial fishing, and maritime tourism, positioning its technology for dual-use deployment.
