Orca AI, a London company whose technology supports autonomous navigation for maritime vessels, has released a new software feature. It’s known as Co-Captain, and it makes maritime travel safer for everyone who shares the ocean. Founded in 2018 by Yarden Gross and Dor Raviv, Orca is on a mission to reduce maritime incidents. They do this by leveraging breakthrough technology that tracks and measures things in real time.
Co-Captain combines data from several onboard sensors and uploads it to the cloud to maximize performance and safety for each ship in real time. The platforms are currently in use on more than 1,200 vessels and deliver centralized alerts and updates to improve navigational awareness and decision-making continues.
The Co-Captain feature even runs predictions on how today’s environmental conditions will impact a given ship neighbor, considering both their size and design. It is this capability that empowers it to share the insights it collects across a geolocated network of vessels, creating a mutualist ecosystem for maritime navigation.
Co-Captain makes active use of tools such as radar, the automatic identification system (AIS), and the Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS). Coupled with these resources, they can quickly reroute a ship to go around traffic or a possible bottleneck. This predictive functionality is intended to help the agency avoid crashes before they happen.
Connectedness among vessels is key, said Yarden Gross, CEO and co-founder of Orca AI.
“Every ship acts as a node in a larger network, and each node—the vessel itself—has an onboard AI platform.” – Yarden Gross
Co-Captain sends important safety warnings for GPS jamming, extreme weather, and heavy traffic. It does this by sharing anonymized data, protecting the confidentiality of where that data comes from. This anonymity preserves the privacy of individual vessels while providing the benefit of shared knowledge to all ships.
“By anonymizing the data, Co-Captain can share critical safety alerts such as GPS interference, severe weather, or high traffic without ever exposing which vessel reported it or where it came from.” – Yarden Gross
Orca AI continues to test the limits of creativity and technology. The team is further connecting Co-Captain to other bridge systems, such as Navigational Telex (NAVTEX) and Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS). This integration will help expand the system’s capabilities to enable even more advanced, all-directional comprehensive safety features.
Co-Captain is an exciting new leap forward in the maritime tech world. It connects a fleet of vessels through Orca AI’s platform to record and report on near-miss events around the globe and share valuable insights. Gross compared this system to what you might find in a navigation app on your personal vehicle.
“Co-Captain is a network of vessels using Orca to capture events worldwide and share insights. Think of it like the navigation app you use in your car: it tells you about traffic or roadblocks in advance so you can adjust your route.” – Yarden Gross
Orca AI has come a long way since its inception. Leveraging its earlier products, SeaPod and Fleet View, it now provides a host of other, deep solutions tailored to the maritime industry. By bringing Co-Captain to market, the company continues its mission to make boating safer with advanced technology and intelligence.