# New System Enables Ships to Share Real-Time Sea Condition Data
A new onboard system allows ocean-going vessels to share real-time sea condition data, giving crews early warnings and helping them navigate more safely. The system will analyze data related to navigation, vessel behavior, and the environment to give ship crews guidance at sea.
While casualties from ship collisions and groundings have declined, the overall number of maritime incidents are on the rise, up 22 percent in recent years driven by aging vessels and equipment failures.
Orca AI, a london-based autonomous maritime navigation company, has introduced a software feature called Co-Captain aiming to reduce those incidents. Co-Captain is an addition to the company’s existing SeaPod real-time decision support system, which bridge officers can use while at sea to navigate better.
Co-Captain provides details about severe weather, including recommendations to specific ships based on their size and shape.
Orca AI
“Co-Captain is a network of vessels using Orca to capture events worldwide and share insights. Think of it like the navigation app you use in yoru car: it tells you about traffic or roadblocks in advance so you can adjust your route,” says Yarden Gross, the CEO and co-founder of Orca AI.
Gross says that Co-Captain frequently collects data from sensors on board vessels and sends it to the cloud to improve ship performance and safety for vessels globally.
## Orca AI’s Maritime Solutions
OrcaAI, founded in 2018 by Gross and Dor Raviv, the CTO, began with SeaPod and Fleet View. while SeaPod collects and analyzes data on individual ships, Fleet View gathers that data in the cloud to give fleet managers on shore better visibility into larger operations.
Co-Captain integrates with the existing system to provide proactive insights to improve fleet performance and safety. Today, ship officers rely on tools like radar and the Automatic Identification System (AIS) to avoid collisions. However, these tools often provide limited situational awareness. Co-Captain aims to augment these existing systems by providing a more complete and proactive view of the maritime environment.