London-based autonomous maritime navigation company Orca AI has unveiled a groundbreaking feature called Co-Captain, aimed at enhancing safety across the maritime industry. In 2018, Israeli entrepreneur Yarden Gross—now CEO—and Chief Technology Officer Dor Raviv created the company Orca AI. With these technologies, they brought to market revolutionary products such as SeaPod and Fleet View to optimize maritime operations. With Co-Captain, they come much closer. The company’s recent leap into the power of technology to proactively keep mariners safe.
The Co-Captain feature links a collaborative network of vessels. It utilizes Orca AI’s platform to record, understand and share knowledge about real-time events worldwide. This innovation allows vessels to communicate vital information regarding potential hazards, much like navigation apps do for road users. Co-Captain aggregates data from all onboard sensors and communicates this information to the cloud. This real-time stream and exchange of information unlocks deeper performance and safety insights for the over 1,200 vessels now on the platform.
Co-Captain’s strongest feature is predicting the impact of prevailing conditions on heading vessels. It takes special ship-by-ship attention to the size and design of new class ships in its modeling. This improved predictive capability is an enormous boon to vessel safety. Additionally, it notifies crews of other hazards such as GPS interference, tornado activity, and dense traffic congestion. Yarden Gross, CEO and co-founder of Orca AI, explained why this feature was so essential.
“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
Incorporating Co-Captain increases safety by more than three times. Beyond that, it helps to create a highly collaborative maritime environment where every vessel becomes part of a much larger and dynamic network of ships. Each vessel provides highly sought-after data without revealing its unique, private identity or whereabouts.
“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 is also in the process of developing Co-Captain. They’re doing this through tying it into critical bridge systems like the Navigational Telex (NAVTEX) and the Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS). By connecting to OpenStreetMap, this integration maximizes the Co-Captain feature’s usefulness. It helps ensure that vessels on these navigational highways receive the most comprehensive navigational support possible.
Orca AI is focused on improving maritime safety. This focus is even more critical as we encounter aging vessels and equipment failures resulting in maritime incidents on a daily basis. Co-Captain provides additional intuitive suggestions for a ship’s speed, arrival time and routing. This vital intelligence is instrumental in accident avoidance and increased operational effectiveness.
Pilot and Co-Captain represents an important step forward for Orca AI. This breakthrough technology further advances the company’s mission to transform the maritime navigational experience through innovative technology. Orca AI has a unique approach and commitment to safety which was a standout. This commitment truly primes the company to make a long-lasting impact on the maritime industry.