Raymarine, Avikus Get Serious About Self-Driving Boats

The deal, announced at the 2023 Miami International Boat Show in the US, will see the two companies work together to launch the world’s first family of self-driving recreational boats. It takes an earlier deal, announced in October, that effectively allowed Raymarine to have a look at Avikus’s technology and see if it was a good fit.

Under the terms of the deal, Raymarine will attract a whole new generation of buyers who had thought about going boating, but lacked the confidence to take that first step.

Avikus will develop its NeuBoat autonomous technology using Raymarine’s marine-focussed electronic sensors, ranging from chartplotters to visible light and infrared cameras, radar and more.

“As shown at CES 2023, the global stage for innovation, Avikus and Raymarine’s shared vision is that autonomy will enhance the boating experience for every boater, from autodocking to ensuring a bigger catch or finding the perfect sunset spot,” the two companies said in a statement announcing the agreement.

“The two companies envision that autonomous boating will lower the barriers for new boaters to buy a boat, helping grow and diversify the market.”

Avikus has said its first recreational boat-based product would be released to the market this year, although no indication was given on what level of autonomy it would have.

Avikus’s NeuBoat is a portmanteau of the words ‘neural’ and ‘boat’. It is currently being developed in two models, with the first allowing a boat to work out where it is, where it needs to go and how to get there, with the second stage allowing the boat to guide itself.

The system will need to integrate with a number of sensors around the boat to help it avoid obstacles on the water, with the overreaching goal aiming to develop full dock-to-dock autonomy so that the boat needs no human intervention.

This last bit is important, as docking is one of the most stressful and technically challenging parts of boat ownership.

The systems are also being promoted as helping experienced skippers to navigate safely.

A longer-term aim is for the boats to be controlled remotely, meaning a skipper won’t even physically need to be on board the vessel to ensure it is navigating safely.

A sneak peek at how Avikus expects its systems to work shows users selecting marina berths using a smartphone, and boats piloting through busy harbours and automatically adjusting their course.