The Monaco Energy Boat Challenge enters a new era with AI on board

MONACO, July 03, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Forty-two teams, twenty nations, 29 universities and more than one thousand students involved. These are the numbers of the 12th edition of the Monaco Energy Boat Challenge (1-5 July), the event dedicated to the future of yachting organised by Yacht Club de Monaco, with the support of the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, UBS, BMW and SBM Offshore. The goal of the Challenge, which bridges the gap between academic research and the boating industry, is to rethink maritime mobility under real conditions.

“This year there is more people, more boats, more involvement of the industry. Plus, we have a new category, a new Class named AI. Not only Artificial intelligence, but also having some boats that are representing the drone industry, the boat can do some maneuvers themselves, they can dock themselves, they can go for missions themselves, so something very new. And after there is plenty of innovation,” explained Jeremie Lagarrigue president of the Jury Committee. “We have AI directly integrated into the battery management system in order to optimize the management of energy on board. We have also a new internal combustion engine running on hydrogen that might be a good option for the yacht industry on retrofit and more and more hydrogen with fuel cell technology involving, having a less weight, better performance and starting to be more and more competitive with the battery technology,” added Lagarrigue.

Divided into four categories, teams explore technologies for yachting’s future: AI Class where the focus is on autonomous boats piloted by artificial intelligence; Energy Class which tests technologies aboard standardised hulls; SeaLab Class, floating laboratories of experimentation with focus this year on pioneering hydrogen technologies; Open Sea Class which showcases CE-certified zero-emission prototypes up to 25m that can take at least 3 people. Of all projects competing, 30 boats are powered by electricity, 12 operate on hydrogen and 12 prototypes will be on foils.

The big news is the Artificial Intelligence debut on board. In the AI Class, the Polish from AGH Solar Boat are combining LiDAR, 3D cameras and use of advanced AI algorithms running on a Jetson Orion computer. The Hungarian team, BME Solar Boat Team, features a lightweight solar electric racing boat, optimised for autonomous navigation, powered by advanced electric propulsion systems and onboard AI-driven electronics. “The main focus of the AI class is to develop and implement autonomous boats that have to complete full autonomous tasks using different type of technology, sensor and AI techniques. The introduction of AI this year is very important because it helps to push the technology to its boundaries and it helps to facilitate the introduction of innovation in all of sectors,” said Maria Marcello, who is on the AI Technical Committee. In the Energy Class, Sambuk Racing from Qatar University make their first appearance and will be using a solid-state lithiun battery, the first of this kind of technology in the history of the Challenge. In the SeaLab Class, from Scotland, Heriot-Watt University has integrated a solid-state hydrogen storage system, safer and more compact. In addition, Plus Zero will be testing a hydrogen internal combustion engine for the first time in the Challenge. Besides that, they use solid state hydrogen storage which uses chemical reaction with water to release hydrogen.

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