Improved Autopilot Control

May 15, 2025 • 2 min read

For a smoother navigation experience.

When sailing solo or with a less experienced crew – having a second pair of seasoned hands onboard is invaluable. This is why many boaters use autopilot to steer their boats. In this week’s release, Orca’s autopilot controls get smarter and easier to use.

New Autopilot Controls and Automatic tacking

Autopilot Controls are very popular among Orca boaters. 44% of all Orca boaters have an autopilot onboard. A great thing about Orca Autopilot Control is that it works on your phone, tablet, and Orca Display – making it readily available wherever you need it onboard.

This week’s update introduces a redesign of Autopilot Controls. Buttons are now larger with more space between them, and mode change, which is not as commonly used, takes up less space. This makes the controls easier to use in demanding conditions and reduces the chance of accidentally pressing the wrong button.

The new autopilot interface leaves more space around buttons, making it easier to use in demanding conditions.

This update also introduces support for Automatic Tacking, often referred to as Autotacking, for sailboats. Autotacking with Orca is incredibly easy. Press the Prepare Tack button, and will then be presented with the upcoming maneuver and your expected angles after the tack. 

Once you are ready to tack, press and hold the tack button for two seconds to initiate the maneuver.

While going downwind, Orca will initiate automatic gybes instead of tacking. Autotacking and autogybing is supported on most modern autopilots. For a complete list, see the autopilot user guide.

A Smoother Navigation Experience

In addition to an improved user interface and support for autotacking, this release also contains behavioural improvements to Navigation Mode for Autopilots:

• The Orca’s autopilot can now provide navigation information to older autopilots that do not announce their presence on the boat network. This is particularly useful for those who own an NMEA0183 autopilot that is connected to an NMEA 2000 network via an adapter.

• The logic for approving waypoints has been improved, and will now match your specific autopilot’s approval strategy rather than using a single strategy for all autopilots.

• You can now cancel the automatic approval for turns < 30 degrees.

• Occasionally when activating the Autopilot while boating along a route, the autopilot would respond with a very sharp turn. This behaviour has now been improved. 

These improvements are available from version 2025.20.1 of the Orca Core and Orca App, which was released on the 16th of May. Orca boaters will receive the update progressively over the following week.

This is modern boating

Orca gives you a fantastic planning and navigation experience – on your phone, tablet, watch, and the marine-grade Orca Display 2.

Orca Display 2 is a navigation display for the modern boater.

If you are looking for a truly modern navigation system that gives you complete control of your boat and helps you make better decisions – look no further than Orca. Get Orca with a 30-day satisfaction guarantee and free express shipping via the Orca Store.