Search and rescue at sea represents some of the most complex operations in maritime transport. Often faced with difficult search and rescue conditions, ship captains and rescue coordinators must keep in mind a large number of parameters by which they will organize the rescue and ensure its optimal outcome. Autonomous ship models represent one of the most important contemporary endeavors in maritime sciences. From shipbuilding to search and rescue at sea, autonomous ships are being developed with the intention of increasing the safety of navigation, reducing both transportation costs and fuel consumption, but also as a response to the lack of educated and trained personnel when it comes to maritime as such. When it comes to search and rescue at sea, autonomous ships represent an important innovation that has the potential to completely eliminate the factor of human error and predict some of the dangerous upcoming circumstances and thus save more human lives, all the while saving efforts, materials and most importantly time necessary to optimize the established difficult situation. It is an important technology whose development marks the beginning of the 21st century in maritime affairs, and it is certain that today's maritime students will have the opportunity to work on or with some of these ships, given that these innovations relate to the improvement of not only maritime affairs and insurance human lives, but also on the sustainability of maritime culture, but also of the maritime ecosystem as such.