Sea Machine Robotics Inks a $15 Million Deal For AI Navigation System

• Autonomous vessel software and systems provider Sea Machines Robotics today closed a $15 million funding round to accelerate deployment of its technologies in the unmanned naval boat and ship market.
• Sea Machines boldly claims this is one of the largest rounds for a tech company tackling marine and maritime use cases.

A recently reported news in the Venture Beat Written by Kyle Wiggers brings forth the important news that Sea Machines raises $15 million for autonomous ship navigation.

Self-steering vessels aren’t a new idea

Earlier this year, IBM and Promare — a U.K.-based marine research and exploration charity — trialed a prototype of an AI-powered maritime navigation system ahead of a September 6th venture to send a ship across the Atlantic Ocean.

In Norway, a crewless cargo shipcalled the Yara Birkeland is expected to go into commercial operation later in 2020.

And Rolls-Royce previously demonstrated a fully autonomous passenger ferry in Finland and announced a partnership with Intel as part of a plan to bring self-guided cargo ships to seas by 2025.

Sea Machines and commercial vessels

Since launching its first family of products in late 2018, Sea Machines says the commercial vessels and three in-house test vehicles equipped with its software have completed six pilot programs and 3,724 operational hours.

Last July, it entered into a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration to demonstrate the ability of its autonomous technology in increasing the safety, response time, and productivity of marine oil spill response operations.

The company also tested its perception and situational awareness technology aboard one of A.P. Moller-Maersk’s new-build ice-class container ships.

$ 130 billion dollar worth within a decade

There’s a reason for the boom in an industry Allied Research predicts could be worth $130 billion within a decade.

Autonomous ships reduce emissions while promising fewer accidents.

Moreover, crewless vessels open the doors to longer research missions, as things like food and salaries are no longer logistical or budgetary concerns.

Operator-in-the loop

Sea Machines manufactures a number of vessel intelligence systems that provide “operator-in-the loop” autonomous command and control.

The SM300, which is designed to integrate with existing sensors to manage preplanned and dynamically charted missions, features obstacle and traffic avoidance.

The entry-level SM200 for tugboats, fireboats, target boats, ferries, utility craft, and other workboats, provides fully integrated line-of-sight and remote-helm control for multi-vessel operations.

And the soon-to-launch SM400 has an AI-powered situational awareness mechanism that leverages computer vision, lidar, object identification, and tracking.

TALOS