The American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) has awarded a classification certification to an autonomous deepwater unmanned surface vessel (USV), the “Saildrone Surveyor”. The “Saildrone Surveyor” is 20 meters long and can perform unmanned operations in waters around the world. This certification marks a new breakthrough in the industry.
The vessel is the largest unmanned surface vessel owned by Saildrone, an Alameda, California-based marine technology company that specializes in providing maritime security, ocean mapping, and meteorological and oceanographic data services using unmanned autonomous equipment.
“ABS and Saildrone are working together to break new ground and set the standard for industry innovation,” said Patrick Ryan, ABS Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer. “This breakthrough is the result of our investment in ABS’s technical capabilities and demonstrates our commitment to ensuring safety is paramount and that our classification society’s regulations support technological innovation.”
The 20-meter-long “Saildrone Surveyor” is capable of performing long-endurance missions in the open sea, collecting deepsea topographic data, and performing various sea area perception tasks.
The certification of the Saildrone Surveyor follows ABS’s previous certification in 2023 for the smaller, 10-meter-class Saildrone Voyager, designed for continuous surveillance missions in nearshore and coastal environments.
The certification of the Saildrone Surveyor follows ABS’s previous certification in 2023 for the smaller, 10-meter-class Saildrone Voyager, designed for continuous surveillance missions in nearshore and coastal environments.
The Saildrone series of unmanned surface vessels are capable of fully autonomous operation, requiring no personnel on board, and are remotely monitored 24/7 by the company’s global mission management team.