From its Cannes debut to a growing European presence, MIRAVA is introducing a different approach to recreational boating — one where technology is designed to disappear into the experience.
There are plenty of new boats at Cannes that catch your attention because of their size, their design or the name on the side.
Then there are boats that make you stop because the idea behind them is different.
That was our experience with MIRAVA at the 2026 Cannes Yachting Festival.
During the show, Chivas Liang invited us to discover the MIRAVA M800E at Port Canto, giving us the opportunity to take a closer look at a project that is still relatively new to the European market, but which has a clear ambition: to rethink how people interact with a recreational boat.
The timing was significant. Cannes was MIRAVA’s European debut, and the company is now putting much greater emphasis on Europe as it moves from development into its next commercial phase.
A boat built around the experience
MIRAVA’s philosophy is captured in its tagline: “Where freedom follows.”
It sounds simple, but it explains quite well what the company is trying to achieve.
The M800 is not designed around one particular type of boating. MIRAVA sees it as a flexible platform that can be used for cruising, family time, fishing, watersports, swimming or simply spending a few hours on the water with friends.
The boat measures 7.9 metres, with a beam of 2.44 metres, and can accommodate up to eight people. It is being developed in both electric and petrol versions. The M800E uses a 100 kWh battery and 150 hp, with a claimed maximum speed of 20 knots, while the petrol version can reach up to 250 hp and 30 knots.
But the dimensions and propulsion figures are not really the most interesting part of the story.
The interesting part is what happens when MIRAVA starts adding technology to the experience.
When the boat follows you
One of the features that immediately makes MIRAVA different is its approach to control.
The M800 incorporates intelligent docking and undocking, navigation assistance, safety functions, dynamic positioning and an intelligent following system.
The concept is particularly interesting when the user leaves the boat.
Through a wearable smart band, MIRAVA can interact with its user and is designed to follow them during activities such as swimming or paddleboarding. The company also envisages using the system while exploring with its detachable electric tender.
It is a subtle but important change in the way we normally think about a small boat.
Instead of the owner constantly being tied to the helm, the boat becomes more responsive to what the owner is actually doing.
You swim away from it. You paddle. You explore.
And the boat is designed to stay with you.
More than one boat
The other defining characteristic of the M800 is its modular approach.
MIRAVA has developed a stern system that can be transformed to create additional usable space. According to the company, the rear section can also be separated from the main boat and used independently as a small tender.
At the bow, the configuration can include a removable hammock and shelter, creating a more relaxed area for spending time close to the water.
This is where the MIRAVA concept becomes easier to understand.
It is not necessarily about adding more equipment to a boat. It is about making the boat itself adaptable.
A morning cruise can become an afternoon of watersports. The same space can later become somewhere to sit, relax, have a drink or simply watch the sunset.
The company describes this as a boat designed around people rather than machines — an idea that is also reflected in the way MIRAVA presents its technology.
Technology that is supposed to disappear
There is a certain irony in the name “smart boat”.
The more technology manufacturers put on board, the easier it is for a boat to become complicated.
MIRAVA is taking the opposite approach.
Its stated objective is to make advanced technology work quietly in the background rather than asking the user to constantly manage it. Autonomous assistance, connected controls, positioning and safety functions are intended to reduce some of the complexity normally associated with operating a boat.
That philosophy was one of the things that made the M800 interesting to see at Cannes.
It feels less like a traditional boat that has been loaded with technology and more like a technology platform that happens to be a boat.
Cannes was only the beginning
MIRAVA arrived at Cannes after approximately three years of product development and a US$5 million angel funding round, which the company says will support further development, small-batch production and deliveries.
The response at the show also appears to have given the company useful early feedback. Following Cannes, MIRAVA reported numerous expressions of interest and potential orders from boat owners, industry professionals, dealers and international media.
But perhaps more significant is what comes next.
The company plans to continue its European presence at boot Düsseldorf in January 2027, followed by a European sea-trial programme from May.
The planned programme will take the M800 to the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Northern Italy, Austria and Hungary, allowing potential customers, dealers and industry partners to experience the boat on the water rather than simply seeing it on a stand.
For a product built around interaction and intelligent assistance, that makes sense.
Some boats can be understood from a specification sheet.
MIRAVA is probably better understood from the helm — or, perhaps, from the water beside it.
A different direction for recreational boating
The European market is already seeing rapid development in electric propulsion, autonomous assistance and connected boating.
What makes MIRAVA worth watching is the way it brings several of these ideas together in one relatively compact platform.
The company is not presenting the M800 simply as an electric boat. Nor is it positioning it purely as an autonomous vessel.
Instead, the proposition is about freedom, flexibility and reducing the distance between the technology and the experience.
That is perhaps the most interesting thing we took away from our meeting at Cannes.
The future of smart boating may not necessarily be about putting more technology in front of the user.
It may be about putting less in the way.
For MIRAVA, the European journey has now officially begun.
And after its first appearance in Cannes, the next question is no longer simply what the M800 can do.
It is how European boaters will choose to use it.
MIRAVA — Where freedom follows.
