In early April, an unusual partnership was announced, pairing the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary’s boating safety courses with a new app from a company called BoatBot.
“By offering BoatBot as a free supplemental tool at USCG Auxiliary classes, we are actively supporting the mission of promoting boating safety,” said David Johndrow, a Coast Guard-licensed captain and member of the Auxiliary. “We believe this technology will make a significant impact on the safety of boaters in our community and beyond.”
The partnership was the latest example not just of artificial intelligence making its way into all kinds of things involving recreational boats, but specifically of companies combining AI
capabilities with traditional seamanship and safety ideas. Numerous other companies have recently announced this type of tech pairing, including Lookout and Sea.AI.
Whereas some AI systems and tools can seem like technology for technology’s sake, these ideas for incorporating AI on board are rooted in what many boaters have already been doing for a long time to try and enhance situational awareness and safety at sea.
In the case of BoatBot, the company’s Pocket Captain app is a way to help boaters give themselves quick refreshers after taking boating safety courses. The app is an on-demand way to find information that’s taught in U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary classes, state boating-license classes and more, including U.S. Coast Guard courses for “six-pack” 100-ton licenses. COLREGS “rules of the road” are in there, too. So is information about navigation lights, sound signals, channel markers and more.
As just one example of how the app might be used, a boater could type into the Pocket Captain app: “Unconscious captain, how do I call for help?” The app responds with instructions for how to call over Channel 16 on a VHF radio, or, if a VHF radio is not available, how to relay GPS coordinates after dialing 9-1-1 on a cellphone, or how to use an EPIRB or flares to alert nearby vessels that you need help.
“Traditional boating safety education provides a vital foundation, but retaining that knowledge over time can be difficult,” said John Doogan, Flotilla Commander 61 of the Coast Guard Auxiliary. “The Pocket Captain addresses this challenge by providing boaters with a readily available resource for safety questions, empowering them to make informed decisions on the water.”
In a similar combination of new AI capabilities being paired with traditional safety concepts, Lookout just announced a way to solve the problem of boat owners wanting to mount advanced AI-vision cameras at the tallest point on the boat to provide bird’s-eye views, from the same spot where Coast Guard regulations require navigation lights to be mounted. Lookout’s new unit incorporates AI camera technology with an old-school nav light into one package, so that precious real estate on the boat can serve the traditional and the modern functions in the same location.
“Our integrated system offers boat owners significant advantages by combining navigation compliance with advanced safety technology,” said David Rose, CEO of Lookout. “The high-mounted, 360-degree, night vision camera provides exceptional range and clarity in darkness. It also delivers complete situational awareness around an owner’s vessel.”
As with the BoatBot tech application, boaters with serious on-water experience are praising the new Lookout device as a way to augment what they have long been trying to do in terms of being safer out on the water.
“Boston Harbor presents significant navigational challenges, with its ferry traffic, commercial vessels and recreational boaters all sharing congested waterways,” said Paul Sullivan of Powertime Boat Club in Boston. “The Lookout system has already identified several potential collision situations that might have been missed without its AI assistance. The integrated navigation light is a brilliant innovation—it simplifies our installation process while ensuring we remain compliant with Coast Guard regulations.”
Many of these systems aren’t just for big-bucks superyachts, either. While BoatBot’s Pocket Captain app is being offered free with Coast Guard Auxiliary courses, the Lookout camera-light combo is being marketed for 20-foot sport boats, 65-foot cruising boats and all kinds of vessels in between.
Another combination of traditional onboard thinking and new AI-based systems is Sea.AI’s Brain, which was on display recently at the Palm Beach International Boat Show. It’s an add-on to a boat’s thermal cameras, giving those existing cameras the ability to provide AI-powered object detection and collision avoidance with automatic alarms.
Sea.AI’s brain comes in at a price point that’s higher than some other AI-based products, being advertised at about $8,700 based on the current value of the Euro and U.S. dollar, but for mid-range to larger yachts that already have a higher-end, fixed-mount, gyrostabilized thermal camera, that kind of price point can seem like a good value—especially for a significant enhancement to onboard safety.
“The powerful Brain detects small objects, including persons overboard, and offers real-time alerts to enhance situational awareness, ensuring safer navigation in all conditions,” according to Sea.AI. “Brain brings AI detection of floating hazards to existing thermal cameras that may not be fully effective if the user is not actively monitoring them, or if contrast is insufficient for the human eye.”
June 2025
