Evoy to roll out its vision of the self-driving boat

The Norwegian inboard and outboard electric motor specialist announced overnight that it will team up with a company called Zeabuz, another Norwegian group, that has already launched a fully autonomous passenger ferry using technology it has developed.

However, Evoy now aims to expand the technology to recreational boats.

“As all maritime sectors move toward a decarbonised future, autonomous electric boats promise an all-encompassing, optimised solution,” Evoy said.

“Evoy is the world market leader in high-output electric motor systems that fit diverse commercial and recreational boats. Zeabuz is a world-leading provider of autonomous navigation technology, and has launched the world’s first emission-free, autonomous passenger ferry.

“With overlapping value propositions for boats ranging from ferry transport vessels to
workboats, the potential from this collaboration between two Norwegian Blue Economy pioneers is immeasurable.”

Evoy chief executive Leif Stavøstrand said the future of boating required “betting on electric vessels and AI [artificial intelligence] now”.

“When commuter and harbour vessels normalise automated zero-emission operations, we expect the technology to trickle down to many more vessels and boats.

“One day, in the not-too-distant future, we will have self-driving taxi boats and recreational boats that go from A to B even at high speeds,” he said.

“It’s a dream come true, and it will revolutionise the way we travel, opening the waterways to decongest large metropolises sustainably.”

According to Evoy, the role of autonomy on a boat is to streamline repetitive or manual tasks, allowing skippers and crew to focus on more complex tasks with less risk.

The partnership plans to now work on a test vessel that uses Evoy’s electric motors and Zeabuz’s artificial intelligence-based technology to develop a system that works seamlessly. It is expected to hit the water later this year.

Zeabuz is developing several layers of autonomy including ZeaWatch, which tracks objects on the water and navigates through them; ZeaMate, which provides autonomous navigation but throws control back to the skipper if it can’t work out what to do; ZeaMaster, which is smart enough to tackle any trip under supervision of a skipper; and land-based remote monitoring services that can check the health of and even steer a boat while it is underway.

Evoy recently released two new onboard motors to its line-up. The inboard Storm 300+hp produces a continuous 300hp and is developed to power boats ranging from 25 to 35 feet for single motor applications, or 30 to 45 feet for twin motor installs.

Meanwhile, the Inboard Breeze 120+hp is aimed at the recreational market for boats ranging from 20 to 50 feet in length, and from planing to semi-displacement hulls.

Evoy has also released a larger-capacity 69kWh CE-approved battery that it says delivers an extra 20 percent range but costs around $8000 less than its existing DNV type-approved 56kWh battery.

South Korean autonomous boat technology specialist Avikus and Sweden's Volvo Penta are both working on systems they believe will make boating much simpler and accessible to more people by automating some or all of the most difficult parts of skippering a boat, including docking.