@BillySmith @daycoder @stavvers @Jennifer_Pinkley Of course. But they were used on sailing ships with large crews dedicated to managing rigging, and there was no diesel engine on board that could propel the ship reliably and economically. Now there is, and these new systems must pay for themselves in this new context.
That is very different from usual techbro-work-- the engineering here is to make something that pays for itself in a heavily regulated industry.

@BillySmith @daycoder @stavvers @Jennifer_Pinkley Also, on sailing ships, almost by definition, the ship would travel to catch a good wind, while nowadays, demanding course deviations would not be acceptable to any great extent.