A new level of manufacturer stupidity

Isn't automation great or what!?
The first use of a joy stick I saw was in Miami about 16 yrs ago using GPS to hold the boat on a coordinate while fishing. It worked and now just about everyone with a GPS on their cell phone uses it.
So the larger complaint is that he stepped off - - he told you someone else was on the helm. People do it all the time from lil put puts to sailboats and tugs. I try to not leave it in gear and wished I had a system like that. Not that we back into slips - cuz we can't - we're too broad in beam (11m)

Thousands of boat owners can't dock their boat - so they should get a travel trailer instead? Oh no, not that - the highways are crowded enough without more of them.
Just saw a Ford advert that takes the guess work and skills from the driver putting the vehicle in reverse while backing down onto a boat ramp.

How about those wireless remotes and engine/gear/steering controls,? Scary to think of the possibilities with that type of gear. The one I like is when the captain steps on to the dock while still docking with a wireless remote to finish the job, lol! Hey, most of us like our electronics but some ideas need to be just that.

Or the battery goes dead and the wind is blowing the boat out of the slip heading towards the $20 mil custom yacht. Dang it!

I think there should be a safe boating class similar to the USCG auxiliary one. I think everyone should know what idle speed, slow speed, etc. is. How to anchor. The basic rules of the road. How to use all safety items and what safety equipment they need, etc. The ONLY people I see regulating the recreational side of the industry are insurance companies. If not for them, people would just buy a 60' and with a joystick and chartplotter think they can just get on it and go without any training.

Well said Capt J.

Wow, accelerated fast, good nobody was on the boats they ran into.