BoatingOS will bring the biggest changes to pleasure boating
A game-changing experience for everyone on board, built on the world’s best marine guidance platform. That’s the promise of ‘BoatingOS’, a major new initiative by Irish marine technology company, Raceix, in association with BENETEAU, their global development partner.
BoatingOS is an entirely new operating system that will power the next generation of chart-plotters – much like how Android works for smartphones. It’s an always-connected platform, delivering data to the helm in a usable, understandable and contextually-aware way, while also unlocking millions of completely new data points which will enrich the boating experience on board. Those behind the initiative believe that current solutions can be difficult to understand, may contain information that is often out of date, and do little to encourage and support fresh marine adventures.
“The current fundamentals are at the heart of the problem” according to Stuart Walker, COO of Raceix. “All of the mapping being used in pleasure boats is based entirely on a system designed for commercial shipping which has evolved very slowly over 200 years. What we do, where we go, what we know, and how we operate in the marine-leisure sector is entirely different to large ships. In addition, it’s usually presented in a way that’s entirely counter-intuitive. Our sector has incredibly talented companies
delivering amazing innovation in on-board hardware, but it all still rests on the same flawed system. BoatingOS is designed to inform and enhance boating adventures in ways never previously imagined.”
For BENETEAU, the opportunity to support BoatingOS was an ideal partnership for both sides as Luca Brancaleon, their Director General, explains: “Since 1884 BENETEAU has placed real innovation at the heart of everything we do. For us it’s not just about getting people into boats, it’s also about how we then support and encourage what they do on the water. This platform will deliver better experiences for boaters – sail and motor – which, in turn, will naturally encourage them to go boating more often. We see this as a game-changer, something which has been needed for some time, but is only possible now with modern, smart technology.” BENETEAU have been central to the rapid progress of this platform, providing Raceix with their
Barracuda 8 test boat, and unlocking key insights into the sector.
The promise of connected-boating, through this new platform, has broader positive consequences for the entire industry, with boating data and usage patterns being available for the first time (all totally anonymized). The potential this delivers isn’t lost on the leading international industry bodies, such as Jean-Pierre Goudant, President of the European Boating Industry explains: “One of the main priorities to maintain and increase the attractiveness of recreational boating as a high-class leisure activity is safety, responsibility and innovation. We are delighted that our sustaining member Raceix and BENETEAU are announcing the BoatingOS platform that addresses this in a highly accessible manner for current and future consumers.”
BoatingOS will also use its live updates to ensure that sensitive areas and marine wildlife can be identified and managed, plus allowing carbon footprints to be measured and offset.
Within BoatingOS, a ‘citizen-science’ system will allow boaters to collect environmental data, which will be delivered to research agencies and national or regional organizations (e.g. European Marine Observation and Data Network) as part of research campaigns, as well as back to other users of BoatingOS.
