NTSB calls for safety standards for uncrewed boats after Lake Erie collision

Only about a foot of the 15.7-foot vessel's hull was visible above the water, and other boaters were unlikely to detect it on radar or the automatic identification system, the NTSB said. Its remote pilot was monitoring passively from shore while it held position automatically near Monroe, Michigan.

The board asked manufacturer SeaTrac Systems to make the design more visible, asked NOAA to test detectability and match monitoring to each vessel's autonomy, and asked the Coast Guard to set national standards and write them into regulations. One minor injury was reported.

Why it matters: The NTSB found no industry-wide U.S. standards for how visible uncrewed boats must be or how they avoid collisions, even as more of them operate in waters shared with recreational boaters.