Brunswick and the tech advances that could take the industry to another level

Brunswick Corp accomplished its mission to make a splash at the 2025 CES show, wowing visitors to its Las Vegas Convention Center display with new product presentations and experiential simulators designed to introduce boating to a new cohort of consumers.

This includes a boating simulator to demonstrate its new autonomous docking platform, a second simulator offering virtual test rides of its Fliteboard product line, and a mockup of a high voltage electric propulsion system for pontoon boats.

Brunswick Corp EVP and Brunswick Boat Group president Brenna Preisser confirmed the company’s highly anticipated assisted docking platform is on schedule to launch later this year. Initially unveiled as an early prototype at a 2023 media event in New York, the now significantly advanced platform reflects “two years of continuous refinement based on real-world, on-water experience,” she says. “That path from prototype to market is very deliberate as we prioritize safety in making sure that we have a system that’s going to deliver on what we expect, and the consumer expects. This is a wonderful example of leveraging technology to eliminate a friction point with potential buyers, and elevate the entire boating experience which is obviously good for the entire industry.”

The company unveiled the new platform using an updated version of its popular boating simulator to now include the autonomous docking capability. Show visitors – and a seemingly endless string of mainstream media – were able to easily bring a digital Boston Whaler 405 Conquest to the slip on the simulator, including people who claim to have never set foot on an actual boat. For comparison, an actual 405 Conquest anchors the display space, displaying the system’s camera arrays and technical elements.

Also attracting a great deal of attention at Brunswick’s CES display was a second simulator offering virtual rides on the company’s Fliteboard electric foil board line. Long lines to give the simulator a try – with show visitors continually pausing to snap photos of one another at the controls – served to simply attract even more people to come see the product.

Brunswick’s mockup of a high voltage electric propulsion system designed for pontoon boats also generated considerable interest from CES visitors. While not immediately slated for commercial production, the concept system shows an example of potential next generation advances as the firm further develops its Autonomy, Connectivity, Electrification, Shared Access (ACES) strategy, said Preisser. “Because CES is not a typical boat show with a typical boating audience, it represents a really great opportunity to gauge response across a broad range of consumers, including the new boaters or future boaters we all need to reach,” she says. “It’s another way to help understand potential barriers that might prevent people from becoming boaters, and to overcome them so that boating can continue to grow moving forward.”

CES runs through Friday January 10 at the Las Vegas Convention Center and multiple satellite venues. Watch IBI for daily updates all week.