I have used NYC ferry service, and it is awesome. It is a resounding success with people that use it, but it costs the city money. (The fare is the same as subway $2.75 but the true cost is $5.60+ per trip).
The other problems is that it doesn't run often enough, and in good days it can get overcrowded, but in bad weather days it is underused.
Having a fleet of autonomous boats will allow to:
1. Run the service more often, (smaller but more frequent boats)
2. Have more routes/trips
3. Scalability. Have more boats ready for peak demand. (it is harder to scale when you have hire and train humans, but if it is all autonomous, that it is simply of an issue just buying more hardware and deploying them on demand).
https://www.ferry.nyc/routes-and-schedules/
The other problems is that it doesn't run often enough, and in good days it can get overcrowded, but in bad weather days it is underused.
Having a fleet of autonomous boats will allow to:
1. Run the service more often, (smaller but more frequent boats)
2. Have more routes/trips
3. Scalability. Have more boats ready for peak demand. (it is harder to scale when you have hire and train humans, but if it is all autonomous, that it is simply of an issue just buying more hardware and deploying them on demand).