Navier Reveals Industry-First Autodocking Feature on Electric Hydrofoil Boat
Navier, the makers of America’s first 100% electric hydrofoil boat, today revealed a demo of their inbuilt autodocking feature, an industry-first for recreational boats. Aimed at making boat ownership easier for beginners, this new tool supports Navier’s larger vision to increase the autonomy of water vessels and unlock the world’s waterways.
For nearly a decade now, marine companies have been working to build fully autonomous autodocking systems. With many achieving assisted docking but with limited adoption, and as a retrofitted feature, Navier has become the first to make autodocking a reality.
The only boat of its kind to go from sketch to flight in under a year, Navier’s initial offering, the N30, will now allow boaters of all experience levels the ability to dock with single click cutting edge autonomous technology. Built by a renowned team including the naval architect of America's Cup Oracle boat Paul Bieker, and drawing from experience at Uber ATG, Google X, and NASA, the N30 operates a lot like an airplane, combining design, software, and performance.
“Autodocking was the most requested feature by our existing customer base,” said CEO and founder Sampriti Bhattacharyya, a former space engineer and MIT Ph.D. “Being the first in the industry to deliver this is a huge milestone for the company and the future of the boating experience. We’re rethinking design from the ground up - with software at the core - enabling us to deliver a product that is highly differentiated on customer experience and performance. Our goal is to bring the joy of sustainable boating to anyone, even those who love water but are overwhelmed at the thought of handling a boat.”
How it works: The N30 auto-docking system uses advanced computer vision and additional sensors to estimate the location of the boat with respect to the selected slip while compensating for external perturbations such as wind while also avoiding obstacles. Notably, the independently steerable twin motors in the N30 can perform some docking maneuvers such as pure translational and turning movements that other single and fixed rear engine hydrofoil boats just cannot do. Once in the final docking position, the auto docking system actively keeps the boat in a fixed position to allow the boat to be secured to the dock. The advanced steering and maneuvering capabilities of the N30 can also be used in manual docking mode via a joystick available in the helm.
The N30 is the first commercially available electric hydrofoil boat built in America and the longest-range electric boat in the world. Ten times more efficient than traditional gas boats, this 30ft craft uses electric hydrofoil technology- the first electric boat with compelling range, utility, and luxury combined.
Navier has raised over 10M in seed funding from Next View Ventures, Liquid 2, Global Founders Capital, and Primavera Capital (one of the largest funds in China, focussed on climate, investors in Tiktok/Bytedance, Alibaba, etc), and prominent angel investors of Silicon Valley to help them build for the future. Initially launching in the recreational vessel market, the bigger mission of the company is to unlock waterways, moving into water taxis and beyond, aiming to decrease emissions and optimize our world’s waterways.
The autodocking feature will be available for beta users in the 2023 edition. While the 2023 edition has already sold out, customers can reserve the 2024 edition of N30 (which you add auto docking) for a refundable deposit of $1,000. For more information or to reserve a vessel for 2024, please visit here.
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