I, too, have a hard time believing someone could run a boat near land and at least not be looking out for other boats or things just floating in the water.

I watch that show about crab fishermen. They don't go into detail about their nav systems, but just from the displays they seem to be extremely elaborate. Other boats show up on it, along with all kinds of information including land, depths, bottom configurations, and where their crab pots have been dropped. I'd love to know how they managed the trick of relocating their pots before this kind of navigation was available. That's like 500 foot accuracy.

There always seems to be someone manning the pilot's seat on that show, although the captain does get down and go on deck while the boat is underway, implying at least a simple autopilot. I'm assuming he isn't letting the cameraman drive.