The military is starting tests on the world’s largest unmanned surface vessel — a self-driving, 132-foot ship designed to travel thousands of miles out at sea without a single crew member on board. The so-called “Sea Hunter” has the potential to revolutionize not only the military’s maritime operations but commercial shipping. If successful, it could usher in the arrival of unmanned cargo vessels moving between countries.

The military’s research arm, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, in conjunction with the Navy will be testing the ship off the San Diego coast over the next two years to observe how it interacts with other vessels and avoids collisions. “Sea Hunter” relies on radar, sonar, cameras and a global positioning system.Unmanned ships will supplement missions to help keep service members out of harm’s way.

During the testing phase, the ship will have human operators as a safety net. But once it proves to be reliable, it will maneuver itself — able to go out at sea for months at a time. With its twin diesel engines, it could go as far as Guam from San Diego on a mission, developers say. There are no plans at this point to arm it.

The Navy over the years has experimented with a number of unmanned systems — from drone helicopters to small, remotely controlled boats launched from ships. The Pentagon’s budget over the next five years calls for investing in more high-end Naval ships, including $600 million to be invested in unmanned undersea vehicles.