**3.3. Autonomous operation**

Automation is an area currently being developed in the maritime industry. The autonomousmode component was added to the ROV in the simulator. In the simulation, the ROV begins in its autonomous inspection of the pipeline. It was achieved using a Unity3D function known as pathfinding where the object automatically computes the shortest path and moves itself to the desired point while avoiding the obstacles in the virtual environment. Using the pathfinding algorithm, multiple waypoints were added along the path of the pipeline to guide the ROV during the inspection.
