[mbreese]

I had the same thought. But maybe, it's less of a concern with an automated ship.

If the steering and engine rooms are sufficiently hardened, that is. It's one thing for someone to get onboard, but it's an entirely different thing to stop the boat. Without humans onboard, who will stop it? And, without a crew, there aren't any hostages. If you're remotely controlling the boat, you could just keep going and bring the pirates with you to the nearest maritime/port authority (Coast Guard, etc...). There is still a risk to the cargo, but how are pirates going to unload a container ship that is still moving in the ocean with an uncooperative captain controlling it remotely?

[verroq]

They can just damage the ship. It would be also ridiculous to think that there won't be an onboard manual override for controls.

[mbreese]

I'm not saying that they couldn't. I expect that they would. But, for large container ships, isn't the bigger concern hostages? No crew = no hostages.

I mean, pirates aren't going to be able to dock a large container ship at any random port. And even if there is a manual override, why wouldn't it require a key of some kind?

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that the threat model changes when you don't have a crew on board that you can threaten. Some parts of piracy (access) may be easier, but others more difficult.