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.