Orca AI, a London-based autonomous maritime navigation company, has unveiled its latest software feature, Co-Captain, designed to significantly reduce maritime incidents. Maritime incidents are up by 22 percent over the last few years. This groundbreaking, open-access tool is intended to help make the seas safer for all kinds of vessels moving around the busy, open, global waterways.
Yarden Gross and Dor Raviv started Orca AI in 2018. Since then, the company has gone on to successfully deploy its platform on more than 1,200 vessels worldwide. With Co-Captain, they’re bringing the company’s commitment to maritime safety and navigation innovation to new heights. It further develops past T4A projects such as SeaPod and Fleet View, greatly expanding their functionality.
Co-Captain smartly uses data collected from hundreds of sensors on the world’s ships to predict how today’s conditions will affect other ships in the vicinity. By taking a proactive approach like this, vessels will be more equipped to traverse these difficult environments, with the hope of avoiding collisions and groundings any further. The hybrid platform collects data in real-time and transmits it to the cloud. This step will improve the performance and safety of ships all over the globe.
Orca AI is busy building out what lies ahead. The team continues to develop Co-Captain with additional bridge systems like NAVTEX and ECDIS. This integration will help make the software even more effective at getting people to adopt safe navigation practices.
“Every ship acts as a node in a larger network, and each node—the vessel itself—has an onboard AI platform. This platform collects data from multiple sensors in real time,” – Yarden Gross
The Co-Captain feature emphasizes data privacy. Making all of the collected data anonymous protects privacy and still allows valuable safety alerts to be shared. This would contain aggregated data on GPS interference, severe weather zones, high traffic areas, etc. with the reporting vessel’s identity and location redacted. This protects the confidentiality of the vessels while allowing all vessels to learn from shared experiences.
“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
Co-Captain immerses mariners in a live flow of information and understanding of their surroundings.
“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 is focused on making maritime a safer environment, and now, more than ever, that’s a critical mission with the rise of maritime incidents. This is especially egregious, as ship collision and grounding casualties are down. Orca AI uses cutting-edge technology paired with a collaborative, shared data model. Their vision is to fundamentally change the game in reducing dangers at sea.
The company continues to strengthen its position in the maritime industry as it develops new features and integrations for its platform. With Co-Captain, Orca AI is definitely onto something that can improve navigational safety. The company’s second mission is to radically change how vessels interact with each other on the water.