Orca AI unveils Co-Captain enabling vessels to share data in real time to optimise navigation

Maritime technology pioneer Orca AI has launched Co-Captain, a groundbreaking new function in its operational platform. For the first time, vessels can share data with each other, in real time, to optimise navigation. This new capability allows them to be better prepared for real-time events and emerging risks, anticipate hazards early and navigate with higher confidence.

By connecting a growing network of a 1,000 Orca AI-installed vessels (pictured), with hundreds more set to join, Co-Captain turns every ship into both a sensor and source of awareness. Together they share and receive verified alerts based on real-time conditions, enriched with external data such as weather, vessel traffic and local regulatory feeds. 

Building on Orca AI’s advanced computer-vision technology, Co-Captain fuses these fragmented inputs into a single layer of collective intelligence. The result is a constantly evolving picture of each vessel’s route that keeps crews ahead of risk.

“This could very well be the most accurate crowdsourced navigational engine in shipping,” said Yarden Gross, CEO and Co-Founder of Orca AI. “Every addition to the fleet strengthens that shared awareness, enhancing how ships anticipate risk and support one another. Given that 90% of world trade goes by sea, this kind of collaborative navigation is no longer optional – it’s a safety, environmental and security imperative.”

Each Orca AI-equipped vessel acts as a node in a trusted global network, continuously detecting high risk targets, including non-AIS targets such as fishing vessels, small craft and navigational hazards like fishing nets. Each vessel continuously uploads data to the cloud, where it is processed to trigger relevant alerts based on specific events. These alerts can include high traffic (congested waters), GPS interferences, severe weather and more. Alerts are sent to vessels on intersecting routes, enabling timely adjustments to speed, course or watchkeeping, helping crews stay safe and in control.

“The database constantly updates what is happening on global routes, empowering officers to make more resilient navigational decisions,” Gross adds. “All data is fully anonymised, with only the location and observed conditions reported, ensuring complete privacy.”

Co-Captain delivers verified, route-based notifications tailored to each vessel's exact operational context, including: 

- Congested waters: Alerts based on live traffic density and recent close encounters, enabling early speed or course adjustments, or an additional OOW to be assigned.

- Severe weather: Real-time warnings, including Beaufort Scale readings and visibility data, enables crews to prepare well in advance.

- GNSS interference: Any satellite signal interference detected by other Orca AI vessels is relayed in real time, allowing crews to re-route or rely on alternative navigation methods. Warnings about areas prone to spoofing and interference are also sent.

- Piracy zones: Alerts before entering high-risk areas, prompting activation of security protocols and increased vigilance.

- Environmental compliance: Automated updates on whale sightings and early alerts prior to entering whale-protection zones, emission-control areas and local speed limits, giving crews time to prepare in advance to ensure full regulatory adherence.

- Navigational hazards: Buoy shifts, unmarked obstacles, ice, man-overboard incidents and pollution can be reported between vessels. Co-Captain also relays critical updates on temporarily closed or restricted areas.

Beyond safety and compliance, Co-Captain delivers measurable financial value. By enabling crews to anticipate and avoid disruptions, ships can reduce potential costly delays, optimise fuel consumption through smoother route adjustments, and minimise incident-related downtime. As the Orca AI-equipped network grows, these efficiencies scale exponentially, transforming safety intelligence into a direct return on investment across entire fleets.

With over 100 million NM of data collected and counting, Orca AI’s dataset forms an unmatched foundation for next-generation situational awareness. Every data point strengthens the model, refining detection accuracy and predictive power over time.

“What we’re building is a living, evolving ecosystem,” adds Gross. “Each vessel becomes a key link in a safety chain that keeps crews connected and ahead of risk."