Yamaha flags plan to connect boats with the internet
Strategic investment in Siren Marine, a boat-based Intenet of Things specialist, hints that Yamaha is looking at a connected futureYamaha plans to one day make its outboard engines as connected as your smartphone, announcing a cash investment in a US company that builds bridges between boats and the internet.
The technology tie-in hints at a future where instead of grabbing a joystick to jostle a boat into a tight spot on the dock, owners will instead reach for their smartphone to control a boat much like they do a drone.
“Siren Marine is a company using smart boat technology in order to provide a greater ‘peace of mind’ to customers who enjoy boating,” Yamaha said.
“The company provides devices that can manage and monitor critical systems such as batteries, bilge levels, shore power, and services to track boat location, and secure customers’ boats from unauthorised entry and theft,” it said.
However, the same “internet of things” technology that is used to turn even household appliances such as fridges into “smart” fridges that can audit their contents and generate shopping lists will also be able to turn boats into “smart” equivalents.
Yamaha was quick to hint that it had big things in mind for Siren Marine’s partnership.
“In Yamaha Motor’s marine business, we have set up a system supplier strategy and are expanding the peripheral device business such as boat maneuvering systems,” it said.
“In addition, this alliance will accelerate the provision of IoT service and digital transformation in the marine business.
“In the long term, we aim to provide greater reliability and a richer marine life through such high-value-added services and products.”
Siren Marine’s Connected Boat technology uses a plug-and-play device that plugs into the boat’s NMEA2000 network, and piggybacks off the mobile phone network.
It can then send real-time updates about the boat either to a smartphone app, or even to an Amazon Alexa virtual assistant.
Owners can also perform functions such as turning on the airconditioning or even the lights remotely so that the boat is lit up, and cool, when they arrive to board.
However, this is all big boat technology that relies on the use of always-on shore power to function. Yamaha, of course, is an outboard engine specialist, so the new systems developed by Siren Marine are likely to be for smaller, and potentially even trailerable boats
Current devices that connect to the Siren system include wireless water level and temperature sensors, battery status, rough weather alert and even a snap connector that can detect when it is opened.
The official dealer for Siren Marine in Australia is Sydney-based BlueRay Marine.
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