Raymarine just moved its new, revolutionary autonomous docking system into the outboard market, introducing it on a Boston Whaler 330 Outrage with twin Mercury Verados (see picture above). It initially introduced the new artificial intelligence DockSense system with a Virtual Bumper last month on a Prestige 460 inboard-powered motoryacht at the Düsseldorf boat show. Both the Boston Whaler and the Prestige with DockSense will be on display at the Miami boat show starting on Feb. 14.
Mercury launched the new system at a demonstration at its Lake X test center outside Orlando. “We’re able to provide a product that makes it simple and easy to dock a boat without hitting anything,” said John Pfeifer, president of Mercury Marine. “This will ultimately turn into an automatic-docking product.”
On the Whaler, Raymarine’s DockSense is coupled with Mercury’s Joystick Piloting for Outboards to control the boat autonomously. DockSense uses multiple FLIR cameras and video analytic technology to create what Raymarine calls a Virtual Bumper zone around the boat. The system includes a central processing module and a DockSense App running on Raymarine’s Axiom nav display. (FLIR is Raymarine’s parent company.)
“Mercury’s adoption of Raymarine DockSense assisted docking solution will transform the boating experience,” said Travis Merrill, president of the FLIR Commercial Business Unit. “By combining FLIR machine learning and advanced sensor technologies into DockSense, we are taking the stress out of docking, making the boating experience more enjoyable for everyone on board.”
http://raymarine.com/docksense
