As a side project I'm looking at making an autonomous vehicle of some kind, starting with a ground vehicle and eventually moving to something on or under the wa

As a side project I'm looking at making an autonomous vehicle of some kind, starting with a ground vehicle and eventually moving to something on or under the water. It's mindboggling how many different ways there are to communicate with microcontrollers, sensors, etc. So many different standards with different data rates, capabilities, features, etc. It's cool to see something like ethernet be able to be used in rough situations like this. I'm sure this is done already with some technology, but I'd love to see a buoy with solar/wind and batteries for power, with a tether going down into the water to supply power and data for sensor arrays underwater. Trying to communicate through water is tough - I even looked at acoustic modems to try and transfer data but it looks like they haven't gotten down to consumer/tinkerer level of electronics yet. Single Pair ethernet with power seems very complicated for a fairly ignorant but interested hobbyist haha