BOSTInno featured Sea Machines in its “One Giant Leap for Mankind: These Eight Boston Companies Are Working on Moonshots of Their Own” article, a round-up of eight Massachusetts “moonshot” companies. The story summarized Sea Machines’ groundbreaking technology as follows:

The idea first came as an afterthought to Michael Johnson while he was working on an oil spill response team in the Arctic. Now, it’s a fully fledged startup: Sea Machines, a maker of software for autonomous boats operating out of an East Boston shipyard. Johnson, the CEO and founder, was convinced the software was crucial for the maritime industry when he worked on a salvage mission for the sunken cruise ship Costa Concordia.

Sea Machine’s flagship autonomous control system allows autonomous boats to move by waypoint, change course when necessary to avoid collisions and follow other vessels. The latter is the system’s main use for the company’s first customers, which include a “major oil spill response company,” according to Johnson. The startup is also working on a system that uses Lidar, a key sensor for self-driving cars that uses a pulsing laser light to measure distances to surrounding targets, to equip boats with the ability to dock themselves. Sea Machines closed a $10 million Series A round in December 2018.

Read the full story here.