Avikus NeuBoat autonomous boat system 2023 First Ride

Avikus aims to take off-the-shelf technology and use it to create systems for recreational boats that take most of the stress out of life on the water. To that end, it has partnered up with marine electronics specialist Raymarine to pick the bits it needs to make a boat that can read its environment and react accordingly.

The system Avikus is developing for recreational boating is called NeuBoat, a portmanteau of “neuron” and “boat”.

Avikus had two weeks ahead of the 2023 IBEX boat industry trade show in Tampa, Florida, to fit out a demonstration boat with a working example of the system it aims to have on sale in Australia in the second quarter of next year. Yep, you read that right, next year.

A spokesman for Avikus declined to reveal which manufacturers the company is in talks with ahead of introducing the system to the Australian market.

The Sea Ray SDX 290 bowrider, the platform chosen for the Avikus test platform, is a large, roomy boat made for long, lazy days on the water with the family. This gives a hint at the target market for the NeuBoat technology.

Once the project is complete, NeuBoat will be able to drive a boat from dock to dock with no input from the skipper. Along the way, it will recognise and avoid other boats, shallow water, paddleboarders, passing traffic and more.

Generation one of the technology, which we will see next year, will let the boat learn about its environment. The next generation aims to automatically share what one boat learns with other NeuBoat systems.

Similar to the system that electric vehicle disruptor Tesla has developed for its cars, Avikus aims to offer over-the-air software updates to its technology as the system improves. That means you install the equipment once and reap the lifetime benefits of the behind-the-scenes development of the technology. 

On the surface, the Sea Ray SDX 290 looks no different to any other boat out on the water. The only physical clues that this is something different are a GPS receiver and a large, white box mounted on the Targa arch, and a rear-facing camera on the trailing edge of the bimini. 

NeuBoat will not be sold as a system you can retrofit to an existing boat. Instead, you will have it installed when your boat is built so that it is fully integrated.

The cockpit of our test boat is a little different. There’s a special monitor in front of the skipper and above the Raymarine Axiom screen flush-mounted on the console, and another one mounted in front of the jump seat, hooked up to the forward-facing Raymarine camera that includes a LIDAR laser-based radar system. It is used to show how the Avikus system’s smarts identify and monitor hazards.

NeuBoat is divided into two functions. The first is NeuBoat NAVI which aims to provide self-driving capability, and NeuBoat DOCK which aims to take over the last stages of docking a boat. 

Behind the scenes, and not visible to us, is some pretty serious computing power. You can see the electronic brains of the system on the large monitor as the software picks out obstacles on the front-facing camera and identifies them.

There's no indication yet of how much the Avikus system costs to install on a boat.

For our demonstration, we’re following a pre-set course leading from the docks outside the Tampa Convention Centre and heading north up the Hillsborough River. Along the way, we need to pass under two bridges, make a U-turn, and then head back along the same route.

The NeuBoat DOCK system takes control of the twin fly-by-wire 250hp Mercury V8 outboard engines powering the Sea Ray SDX 290 to push us sideways and away from the dock. A few metres out, the NeuBoat NAVI system takes over, a blue line on the monitor showing our pre-planned route.

We’re in a no-wake zone for the entire trip, so there’s no chance to test the Avikus system at higher speeds.

On the monitor, the computer software driving the boat is picking out hazards and highlighting them in yellow. The engines turn themselves to keep the boat fixed on its route.

We pass under both bridges, passing an oncoming boat as the software steers us to starboard, and reach the turnaround point without any input to the throttle and steering wheel. However, if you did grab the wheel or throttle lever, the automated system would switch off, handing control back to the skipper.

On the trip back, the Avikus team has arranged for a boat to sneak in front of the Sea Ray and trigger NeuBoat NAVI’s automated safety systems. It cuts in front as we’re about to go under one of the bridges, moving at a slower speed.

The large screen suddenly lights up with red squares as the software identifies the slow-moving boat in front. The Sea Ray immediately slows down in response and keeps a set distance away from the boat in front.

On the other side of the bridge, the lead boat peels away and the Sea Ray picks up its speed as it turns towards the convention centre dock.

Once we reach the dock, the NeuBoat DOCK system takes over. 

It’s a fairly windy day with some good gusts sweeping across the channel leading out to the Tampa Bay area. As the Sea Ray turns parallel to the dock a few boat lengths out, a strong gust hits us and pushes the boat towards the dock.

The system reacts automatically, shunting back out to where it had started the previous attempt to dock. This time, the breeze stays constant and the boat shuffles backwards alongside the floating pontoon, leaving a gap of about a metre.

Once it is in position, the NeuBoat DOCK system uses the engines to shunt the Sea Ray sideways, pushing it up against the jetty.

Once it is alongside, the skipper is presented with the option of pushing either a “Cancel” button to take back control of the boat, or a “Done” button to end the docking process.

This limited demonstration of Avikus’ autonomous technology gives a small glimpse of what the full NeuBoat system will be capable of once it is launched to the market.

It’s probably not important that the trial did not include a high-speed element. In all likelihood, the low-speed autonomy will become the main feature of the NeuBoat system that skippers with limited boating experience will come to rely on. Driving a boat at speed is easy, but slowing down and navigating busy waterways, and then shuffling into a dock are two of the most difficult situations skippers face.

Even if the first generation of NeuBoat offers only low-speed functions, it will still be a big advance for recreational boating.

That said, the Avikus system is not yet perfect. One of the ongoing issues will be keeping the LIDAR system clean enough so that salt, dust and bird poo does not knock the system offline – the Avikus team is still working on a solution for this.

The system also needs more refinement. At the moment, it identifies a self-propelled foilboard as a jet ski, so it must learn to differentiate between more types of water users. Again, this is something the Avikus team is working on.

Once it is perfected, NeuBoat should open up the water to a whole new generation of people keen to make the jump into boat ownership – most likely via something like a boat-sharing service rather than owning one outright – but lacking the skills or confidence to skipper in anything but ideal conditions.