No matter how skilled a skipper is, the elements eventually will conspire to make the docking experience miserable. But help is on the way in the form of autonomous docking systems that are intended to help average operators look like pros no matter how large the vessel.
Raymarine’s Market-Ready Systems
Raymarine started the development of a self-docking boat in 2017, when its engineers teamed up with counterparts in FLIR’s Point Grey division. The idea was to use FLIR’s stereo vision 3D camera systems to develop a close-quarters, hands-free maneuvering system.
Today, Raymarine offers two assisted-docking systems. The first is DockSense Alert, which uses one, three or five stereo-vision cameras to feed visual images and notices to the driver of any potential impact with another boat or object. With this system, there is no integration with the engines.
The second system is DockSense Control, which adds to the DockSense Alert technology by actively intervening if an imminent collision is detected. Drivers can set virtual fenders on all quadrants to allow them to back into tight slips without fear of crashing into the dock or the boat next to them.
For these systems to be installed on the largest number of boats, Raymarine took an inclusive approach, showcasing the prototype systems on boats powered by Mercury and Volvo Penta engines. “Rather than being tied to a specific engine partner for DockSense Control,” Raymarine marketing manager Jim McGowan says, “we partnered with Emerson Automation Solutions, the manufacturer of the Aventics Marex 3D joystick system.”
Raymarine’s Avikus Partnership
Avikus is a subsidiary of Hyundai Heavy Industries, which is the world’s largest shipbuilder and is experienced in self-piloting systems for ships. At last year’s Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, Avikus NeuBoat demonstrated the Navigation Assistant System and Docking Assistant System, which appeared to work flawlessly. Using cameras along with LiDAR, the boat avoided any object or crossing vessel within a nearly 400-foot range.
When docking in a new location, the driver cruises past the intended slip so the system can gauge the situation. The driver then selects where the boat needs to dock, and the system takes over.
This system also has a Route Planning mode, allowing the driver to tap two points on the display’s chart. After that, the system will pilot the boat along the safest course between the two points.
According to Dohyeong Lim, CEO of Avikus, one of the biggest challenges in implementing NAS and DAS — which are expected to have a global release later this year — is to create systems that can expect the unexpected and still follow the COLREGs.
“The rules of the sea are much less defined than, for example, the rules of the road for cars and trucks,” Lim says. “In addition, they are constantly changing. NeuBoat’s system has to follow the rules as precisely as possible while still navigating around all other boats that don’t, and that creates a very complex and challenging situation. Safety is always our highest priority.”
On Oct. 26, Raymarine (now a division of Teledyne) and Avikus signed a memorandum of understanding. The two companies agreed to integrate the NeuBoat technology into Raymarine’s navigational products.
Volvo Penta, Garmin
My first look at Volvo Penta’s auto-docking prototype was in Sweden in 2019 in challenging 30-knot winds aboard an Azimut yacht. The system safely brought the 68-footer to the dock, albeit slowly, using sensors to detect homing beacons on the dock. While this solution would not be useful outside of a boat’s home port, the demonstration proved that the concept works.
Volvo Penta and Garmin worked together to integrate the former’s Assisted Docking system (which won an Innovation Award in 2021) and Garmin’s Surround View camera system. There were many challenges, according to Dave Dunn, Garmin’s senior director of marine and RV Sales.
“Every hull is different, so the cameras have to be placed intelligently to maximize coverage and minimize blind spots,” he says. “Additionally, the cameras had to be robust enough to withstand the harsh marine environment, yet also small, unobtrusive and visually appealing. We also needed a very powerful processing system to handle the massive amount of high-definition video data.”
Aided by Garmin cameras, a driver can achieve a bird’s-eye view to get into position for docking. With a straight shot into the intended slip, the driver presses the joystick forward or backward. GPS-based dynamic positioning compensates for wind and tide.
For now, the Assisted Docking system is available only on boats with select diesels with IPS drives, but it can be retrofitted on models built in 2012 and later.
Brunswick and Carnegie Robotics
Brunswick’s overall strategy for modernizing the boating experience is called ACES (autonomy, connectivity, electrification and shared access). The corporation’s ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) includes in-house technology from Simrad radar, Lowrance sonar and C-MAP cartography.
Carnegie Robotics contributed the GNSS satellite sensor, as well as stereo cameras that give a 360-degree view and sound an alert if any object comes within about 200 feet of the vessel. According to Brunswick CEO David Foulkes, ADAS has a suite of autonomous features that will greatly simplify the task of safely taking a boat from point A to point B.
In November, Brunswick displayed its latest technology to the marine press at Lake X in central Florida aboard its ACES demonstration boat. One safety feature is the system’s ability to recognize small obstructions in its path, and to halt the auto-docking process until the path is cleared. The tech is still in the developmental stage, but it doesn’t appear that it will be long before it reaches the market.
Overall, boaters are still a few years away from seeing autonomous docking as a commonplace feature, but the race is on among these industry giants to make the feature a reality.
This article was originally published in the February 2023 issue.
