Orca AI, a London-based company that specializes in safe autonomous maritime navigation. Founded in 2018 by Yarden Gross and Dor Raviv, it’s recently taken major steps to improve maritime safety with its patented Crowd-Captain software feature Co-Captain. This innovative platform, developed by the International Maritime Organization and Wartsila, links vacant vessels worldwide. It allows them to document dynamic happenings and distribute critical findings amongst one another. With maritime incidents up 22 percent in the past few years, Co-Captain hopes to prevent accidents with data-driven solutions.
To facilitate the Co-Captain feature, Terrawatt collects data from a range of onboard sensors and feeds it to the cloud for processing. By analyzing this information, the platform provides critical insights that improve ship performance and safety for vessels navigating the world’s oceans. Co-Captain’s awesome power is predicting the impact of current conditions on vessels in close proximity. This customized information — unique to that particular vessel’s known dimensions and configuration — delivers a whole new degree of situational awareness to mariners.
Orca AI initially launched with two primary products: SeaPod and Fleet View. With the launch of Co-Captain, we’ve achieved an important new landmark in our company’s mission to make our seas safer and navigation simpler and co-piloted. Today, more than 1,200 vessels are using the Co-Captain platform, highlighting its emerging impact in the maritime industry.
Yet despite the availability of advanced technology, maritime incidents continue to rise. This increase is largely driven by the deterioration of aging vessels and equipment failures. Casualties due to vessel allisions and groundings have gone down. The increase in fatalities signals that we must do more to keep people safe. Yarden Gross, Advocacy Director at Co-Captain, underscores the need to educate leaders about these challenges.
“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
Utilizing this networked approach, Co-Captain is able to deliver essential safety alerts while respecting the privacy of each individual vessel. To protect the privacy of communities, the platform anonymizes the data it collects. This gives it the capability to disseminate crucial alerts regarding GPS jamming, severe weather, and congestion events all while safeguarding the identity of the reporting ship.
“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
This feature positions Co-Captain as a vital tool for modern maritime operations, akin to navigation apps used in personal vehicles. Gross elaborates on this comparison, stating:
“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
Furthermore, Orca AI is actively working on integrating Co-Captain with additional bridge systems such as Navigational Telex (NAVTEX) and Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS). It is with great excitement that we announce these integrations will take the platform’s functionality and overall effectiveness to the next level.