SAFE Boats International announces production partnership with West Palm Beach, FL-based autonomous maritime technology provider, Mythos AI.
SAFE Boats has delivered a purpose-built Porter 78S workboat to Mythos AI which will be showcased at the 2022 International WorkBoat Show. The aluminum-hull, outboard-driven Porter 78S survey boat, built under an exclusive license agreement with Stormer Work Boats of the Netherlands, is specifically designed for the integration of Mythos AI’s self-driving and autonomous hydrographic survey control system.
Mythos AI’s first autonomous SAFE Porter 78S hydrographic survey vessel, “ArchieOne”, is fully equipped and in-service, collecting data and demonstrating its capabilities to hydrographic survey stakeholders in the U.S. southeast. The second vessel is approaching completion and future builds are scheduled for 2023 and beyond.
The partnership leverages the strength of SAFE Boats as an established program boat builder for U.S. federal, state, and local public safety agencies and now Mythos AI’s dedication to providing automated workflow solutions for vessel operators.
SAFE Boats CEO, Richard Schwarz, made the following statement about the partnership with Mythos AI: “SAFE Boats was attracted to Mythos AI’s focused and realistic application of self-driving, autonomous car technology to solve workflow inefficiencies for workboat operators. Their team has a refreshing approach to addressing this underserved space and has developed exciting capabilities in a short time span. It’s exciting to be a critical partner and witness their technology rollout.”
Mythos AI’s logical approach applies self-driving, car-derived technology and applies it to the far more manageable maritime environment. Archie, Mythos AI’s initial product offering, is a vertically integrated autonomous hydrographic survey vessel. Hydrographic surveys require a specialized skill set and the ability to rapidly interpret various environmental details. They are conducted at low speeds where maintaining course & coverage requirements manually is a challenge while executing dynamic routes to avoid obstacles and collisions in congested waterways. The Mythos system walks operators through the acquisition process of high fidelity, multibeam sonar data from start-to-finish, layering in autonomous quality-control and self-driving to reduce human-prone error and, in turn, increases the efficiency of surveys tenfold.
Mythos AI CEO, Geoff Douglass, offered the following comments about partnering with SAFE Boats: “Mythos AI sought SAFE Boats as its production partner for their proven quality, discipline, and precision in replicating boats for large programs. Commercial, self-driving robotics and autonomous systems require a level of engineering and manufacturing discipline that is challenging to find in boatbuilding. The team at SAFE had this discipline and was from start to finish a great program partner. SAFE Boats and the Stormer Porter 78S are the ideal builder and vessel platform for our initial market offering. We look forward to continuing the relationship.”
The Porter 78S is an 8m x 3m aluminum workboat powered by dual outboard engines with a large pilothouse and working deck area inclusive of a moonpool for multibeam sonar deployment. The Porter range of workboats are offered by SAFE Boats in inboard and outboard configurations from 6.5m to 12m.
