In recent years, there has been an intensification of work on the autonomy of means of transport, which also applies to ships. Modern ships are already equipped with crew decision support systems and numerous diagnostic systems. Increasingly more systems are installed on ships that can operate without human integration. This situation leads to the development and use of fully autonomous ships. This overview publication briefly describes the main features of the construction and operation of autonomous ships, including some examples of structures already demonstrated in recent years. In summary, the author presents comments that provide a contribution to the discussion on the autonomy of means of maritime transport.