Saildrone USV (Explorer / Voyager / Surveyor)

Saildrone (founded 2012 in Alameda, California by Richard Jenkins, with retired three-star admiral John Mustin as president) is the canonical commercial autonomous surface vessel company, operating wind- and solar-powered uncrewed surface vehicles for ocean data collection, mapping, and maritime domain awareness. Its line spans the 7-meter Explorer, the 10-meter Voyager, and the 20-meter Surveyor, with a new 52-meter diesel-electric hybrid Spectre announced in 2026 for delivery in 2027 that departs from the wind-and-solar identity. It runs a captive mission-operation model, owning and operating the fleet and selling data and outcomes rather than vessels, with customers including NOAA, the US Navy's 4th Fleet for counter-narcotics and illegal-fishing work, and Denmark's EIFO, and funding including a $100 million Series C, a $60 million EIFO round in May 2025, and a $50 million Lockheed Martin strategic investment in October 2025. The registry records it at commercial maturity, the most mature commercial surface-autonomy player, on twelve-plus years of operation, 130-plus vehicles, and recurring contracts. A significant cap-flag applies to its cumulative-scale figures, which are inconsistent across its own channels: an October 2023 primary milestone of 1,042,620 nautical miles, 32,438 days at sea, and 136 vehicles is the defensible verified anchor, while its homepage now claims more than 2 million nautical miles and a separate 2026 figure cites 2.5 million miles, both with the day-count frozen at 60,000, so the 2-to-2.5-million-mile claims are treated as not verified. The strongest discrete verified scale is its Navy 4th Fleet operation of about 130,000 nautical miles over roughly 2,700 mission-days. Its autonomy is genuine, though the degree of human supervision during missions is undisclosed.

Yes. Saildrone USV (Explorer / Voyager / Surveyor) is independently verified in real-world operation on the DEPLOY registry, confirmed at named deployment sites with primary sources: not a concept, render, or demo-only.

Saildrone USV (Explorer / Voyager / Surveyor) is made by Saildrone, based in Alameda, California, USA, founded in 2012.

5 verified deployments of Saildrone USV (Explorer / Voyager / Surveyor) are on the DEPLOY registry, including at Alameda, California, USA, Pacific Ocean, Arctic Ocean.

Saildrone USV (Explorer / Voyager / Surveyor) is in commercial deployment and is sold to operators; contact the manufacturer to buy, and see the pricing section for any recorded price.

On the DEPLOY registry, comparable maritime_surface robots to Saildrone USV (Explorer / Voyager / Surveyor) include Corsair, Voyager, Surveyor, Saronic USV (Corsair / Mirage / Marauder).

Saildrone USV (Explorer / Voyager / Surveyor) and Corsair (Saronic Technologies · 8 deployments) are both maritime_surface robots on the DEPLOY registry. Saildrone USV (Explorer / Voyager / Surveyor) has 5 verified deployments on record. Compare both records for specs, safety, deployments, and verified-vs-claimed autonomy.

On DEPLOY's intelligence score, which blends verified deployments, safety, adoption, media, and IP signals, Saildrone USV (Explorer / Voyager / Surveyor) ranks in roughly the top 16% of maritime_surface models tracked by the registry.

Saildrone USV (Explorer / Voyager / Surveyor) is at the commercial stage on the DEPLOY maturity ladder (research, prototype, pilot, commercial, production). Commercial stage means production-grade deployments are operating at named customer sites.

Saildrone USV (Explorer / Voyager / Surveyor) has no incidents on record in the DEPLOY registry. This does not constitute a safety guarantee; it reflects the incidents DEPLOY has tracked and verified to date.

The Saildrone Surveyor is a 20m autonomous surface vehicle with 100-day endurance between service stops. The Saildrone fleet has surpassed 1,000,000 nautical miles and 32,000 days at sea. It fuses radar, advanced cameras, and sensors for ISR, deep-ocean mapping, and payload effects. The Surveyor received ABS full classification, the first for an autonomous USV.