Saildrone Secures Class Certification for its Largest Unmanned Vessel
Saildrone, the California-based manufacturer of long-endurance ISR and survey drone boats, now operates the world's largest fully-classed unmanned surface vessel. In partnership with ABS, the company has obtained classification for its 20-meter Saildrone Surveyor after a rigorous review process. Among other benefits, the achievement allows the unmanned boats to operate in the waters of nations that require vessels to maintain a class certificate.
"The ABS class certification is . . . a signal to governments and the maritime industry that Saildrone USVs are mature, safe, tested, and ready for scale," said Richard Jenkins, Saildrone's founder and CEO. "It’s been a very large investment and a multi-year process to achieve ABS class certification, but we are proud to be the first company in the world to do so."
ABS said in a statement that it has made a concerted effort to support unmanned vessel technology development.
"ABS and Saildrone are pioneering new frontiers, setting the pace for innovation. This step forward is a result of our investments in ABS’ technical capability and helping to ensure our Rules are able to support innovation with an unwavering focus on safety,"
said Patrick Ryan, ABS Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer.
The two partners have been working together on certification for years. In 2023, ABS provided interim classification for Saildrone's 10-meter Voyager design, a popular choice for research and government customers like NOAA and the U.S. Navy. Saildrones have deployed everywhere from the Persian Gulf to the Arctic to the center of an Atlantic hurricane, collecting data for months at a time without human intervention - a key challenge for unmanned surface vessels. The company markets its vessels on a charter basis, and claims that its service model radically reduces carbon emissions compared to conventional vessels.
Surveyor takes payload capabilities up a notch compared to previous models, and can support more technically demanding missions like subsea survey, acoustic doppler current profiler (ADCP) water column analysis and geotechnical data collection. It has been used commercially to map subsea cables for Meta, but it is built around the needs of the U.S. Navy: the large drone is built to ABS Light Warship standards, and is equipped with the kind of capability that the Navy needs to support persistent MDA and undersea warfare data collection.
ABS Issues Certificate for World’s Largest Classed Unmanned Surface Vehicle
[By: ABS]
ABS awarded Classification to the Saildrone Surveyor, a fully autonomous deepwater unmanned surface vehicle (USV).
At 20 meters long and capable of unmanned operations across all of the world’s oceans, the Surveyor breaks new ground. The Surveyor is the largest class of USVs from Saildrone, a provider of maritime security, ocean mapping, and meteorological and oceanographic data using unmanned autonomous assets.
“ABS and Saildrone are pioneering new frontiers, setting the pace for innovation. This step forward is a result of our investments in ABS’ technical capability and helping to ensure our Rules are able to support innovation with an unwavering focus on safety,” said Patrick Ryan, ABS Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer.
“The ABS class certification is more than a certificate—it’s a signal to governments and the maritime industry that Saildrone USVs are mature, safe, tested, and ready for scale,” said Richard Jenkins, Saildrone founder and CEO. “It’s been a very large investment and a multi-year process to achieve ABS Class Certification, but we are proud to be the first company in the world to do so and proud that our systems have reached the highest standards as required by the ABS Class certificate.”
The 20-meter Surveyor is capable of long-endurance missions in the open ocean, collecting deep-ocean bathymetry and performing a wide range of maritime domain awareness tasks. This milestone follows the smaller 10-meter Voyager, which achieved ABS Class in 2023 and is designed for persistent surveillance in coastal and near-shore environments. Saildrone USVs are capable of fully autonomous operations with no human onboard and are remotely monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week by the company’s global Mission Management team.
ABS is collaborating with industry, government regulators and stakeholders in the design and implementation of the world’s most advanced remote-control and autonomous technology. Learn more here.
The products and services herein described in this press release are not endorsed by The Maritime Executive.
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