A new onboard system allows ocean-going vessels to share real-time sea condition data, giving crews early warnings and helping them navigate more safely. The system will analyze data related to navigation, vessel behavior, and the environment to give ship crews guidance at sea.
While casualties from ship collisions and groundings have declined, the overall number of maritime incidents are on the rise, up 22 percent in recent years, driven by aging vessels and equipment failures.
Orca AI, a London-based autonomous maritime navigation company, has introduced a software feature called Co-Captain, aiming to reduce those incidents. Co-Captain is an addition to the company’s existing SeaPod real-time decision support system, which bridge officers can use while at sea to navigate better.
Co-Captain provides information about severe weather, including recommendations to specific ships based on their size and shape. Orca AI
“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,” says Yarden Gross, the CEO and co-founder of Orca AI.
Gross says that Co-Captain frequently collects data from sensors on board vessels and sends it to the cloud to improve ship performance and safety for vessels globally.
Orca AI’s Maritime Solutions
OrcaAI, founded in 2018 by Gross and Dor Raviv, the CTO, began with SeaPod and Fleet View. While SeaPod collects and analyzes data on individual ships, Fleet View gathers that data in the cloud to give fleet managers on shore better visibility into larger operations.
Co-Captain integrates with the existing system to provide proactive insights to improve fleet performance and safety. Today, ship officers rely on tools like radar, the automatic identification system (AIS), and the Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS) monitor the positions of other vessels and avoid collisions, but much of the work remains manual.
Co-Captain identifies various navigational hazards to a ship’s crew. The crew can also manually tag obstacles or other concerns. Orca AI
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