Unmanned surface vehicle

An unmanned surface vehicle, unmanned surface vessel or uncrewed surface vessel (USV), colloquially called a drone boat, drone ship or sea drone, is a boat or ship that operates on the surface of the water without a crew. USVs operate with various levels of autonomy, from remote control to fully autonomous surface vehicles (ASV).

The regulatory environment for USV operations is changing rapidly as the technology develops and is more frequently deployed on commercial projects. The Maritime Autonomous Surface Ship UK Industry Conduct Principles and Code of Practice 2020 (V4) has been prepared by the UK Maritime Autonomous Systems Regulatory Working Group (MASRWG) and published by Maritime UK through the Society of Maritime Industries. Organisations that contributed to the development of the MASS Code of Practice include The Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA), Atlas Elektronik UK Ltd, AutoNaut, Fugro, the UK Chamber of Shipping, UKHO, Trinity House, Nautical Institute, National Oceanography Centre, Dynautics Limited, SEA-KIT International, Sagar Defence Engineering and many more.^{[citation needed]}

By the end of 2017, Sagar Defence Engineering became the first company in India to build and supply USV to a government organization.^{[citation needed]}

As early as in World War I Germany designed and used remote-controlled FL-boats to attack British warships. At the end of World War II, remote-controlled USVs were used by the US Navy for target drone and minesweeping applications. In the twenty-first century, advances in USV control systems and navigation technologies have resulted in USVs that an operator can control remotely from land or a nearby vessel: USVs that operate with partially autonomous control, and USVs (ASVs) that operate fully autonomously. Modern applications and research areas for USVs and ASVs include commercial shipping, environmental and climate monitoring, seafloor mapping, passenger ferries, robotic research, surveillance, inspection of bridges and other infrastructure, military, and naval operations.

On January 17, 2022, the Soleil succeeded in completing the first fully autonomous sea voyage by ship. Built by MHI, the demonstration was conducted in cooperation of Shin Nihonkai Ferry. The seven-hour, 240-kilometre voyage, from Shinmoji in Northern Kyushu to the Iyonada Sea, recorded a maximum speed of 26 knots.

In August 2022, the MV Mikage of the Mitsui O.S.K. Lines sailed 161-nautical miles over two days, from Tsuruga to Sakai, successfully completing the first crewless sea voyage to include docking of an autonomous coastal container ship, in a two-day trial.

A number of autonomy platforms (computer software) tailored specifically for USV operations have been developed. Some are tied to specific vessels, while others are flexible and can be applied to different hull, mechanical, and electrical configurations.

The design and build of uncrewed surface vessels (USVs) is complex and challenging. Hundreds of decisions relating to mission goals, payload requirements, power budget, hull design, communication systems and propulsion control and management need to be analysed and implemented. Crewed vessel builders often rely on single-source suppliers for propulsion and instrumentation to help the crew control the vessel. In the case of an uncrewed (or partially crewed) vessel, the builder needs to replace elements of the human interface with a remote human interface.