UK-based autonomous vessel company Zero USV has completed its third 12-metre unmanned surface vehicle (USV), which is available for outright purchase or charter.
The USV is controlled using software from MarineAI's autonomy suite, delivering COLREG-compliant navigation, adaptive decision-making, and remote mission control, as well as integration of third party payloads.
Like other craft in the same series, the aluminium monohull USV is designed for long distance over-the-horizon operations.
It has also been designed to be mission-agnostic, allowing a wide range of potential applications from surveys and monitoring of infrastructure to safety, geophysical surveys, border control, fisheries enforcement, and defence.
Zero USV Founder Matthew Ratsey said the craft was designed with safety and efficiency in mind, being able to take on offshore over-the-horizon tasks that would typically require a crew, thus eliminating on-water risks and associated costs, including environmental benefits afforded by it being crewless.
The USV is currently being commissioned and will shortly begun undergoing sea trials. Afterwards, it will join the operational fleet alongside Zero USV’s first two 12-metre USVs currently in operation in Plymouth, UK, and in Halifax, Canada.
