SYDNEY, July 16 (Reuters) - An Australian AI startup

developing software for crewless boats said it has been granted

one of the first AUKUS exemption licences by the Australian

government, allowing it to share information with defence

contractors in the U.S. and Britain.

Defence officials have said Australia will rely more on

autonomous systems to protect its vast coastline and up to 1.2

million square miles (3.1 million sq km) of northern ocean, even

as it spends billions on nuclear-powered submarines.

Australia, the United States and Britain removed significant

barriers on defence trade in August through an exemption to the

U.S. International Trafficking in Arms Regulations, designed to

speed up construction of nuclear-powered submarines under the

Australia-UK-US (AUKUS) pact.

The co-founder of the Greenroom Robotics startup, former

Royal Australian Navy engineer Harry Hubbert, told Reuters the

licence exemption will also speed up the company's collaboration

on autonomous vessel trials with defence companies in Britain

and the United States.

Greenroom's software acts like "the brain of a vessel", he

said, emulating what a helmsman or navigator would do by talking

to the rudder, engine and radar systems on board.

Trials of the software have been conducted on boats ranging

from a one-metre long research vessel to an offshore patrol

boat, he said.

Greenroom has a partnership with navy shipbuilder Austal

Australia and has also worked with British company

Subsea Craft on a tactical water vessel, Hubbert said.

Greenroom's software is dual-use, and can also be applied to

help vessels monitor for whales, he added.

"The opportunity with AUKUS is that we can enter U.S. and UK

markets but also expand the horizon," he said.

With around 80% of the ocean floor uncharted to modern

standards, autonomous vessels can gather information that helps

ocean research, national security needs and sea-borne trade, he

said.