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Run your analysis now →https://www.patsnap.com/resources/blog/rd-blog/autonomous-surface-vessel-patent-landscape-patent-landscape/ · Patsnap · data cut-off 2026-08-31 · downloaded from the live page
Patent Landscape · Marine & Offshore EngineeringAutonomous surface vessel patents: who holds the claims and where they thin out
A data-backed view of autonomous surface vessel patents: who holds the largest filing positions, how filing activity has moved since 2017, which IPC branches carry the claim density, and where white space remains open fo
127
Published Records
46%
Top-5 Share of All Records
+33%
Filing Growth 2021→2024
US
Leading Jurisdiction
Filing growth = 2021 (3 records) → 2024 (4); 2024 is the last year we treat as complete. Top-5 share = the 5 largest assignees ÷ all 127 records in scope (CR5), not the ranked leaders only.
Published byPatsnap Research··6 min readSourced from Patsnap Eureka
Overview
What the autonomous surface vessel patent record actually shows
Autonomous surface vessel filings sit at the intersection of ship hull design, naval and defence hardware, and the positioning and control systems that let a vessel operate without a crew aboard. The 127 records in scope span 2015 through the current data cut-off, filed through receiving offices led by the United States, with meaningful volume also routed through the WIPO PCT system, Europe, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom. That spread points to a technology being protected across several commercial and defence markets at once rather than in a single home jurisdiction.
Reading the dataset by patent family rather than raw document count matters here: continuation practice and multi-jurisdiction filing can otherwise inflate a single invention into several line items. The concentration figures and IPC shares below are given against that same family-and-record basis so the denominators stay consistent throughout the page.
Filing activity and technology composition, 2015 to the current cut-off
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee ranking and totals. Derived from a Patsnap search on Autonomous Surface Vessel Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
The data
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 127-record dataset: how filing activity has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claim density. Because a single record can carry several IPC codes, the class shares below add up to more than the record total — that is expected and is not a sign of double counting.
Filing trend: a 2017 peak, then a rebuilding phase
Filings peaked at 16 records in 2017 and have not returned to that level since. The 2021-to-2024 window, the most recent span that can be read as complete once publication lag is accounted for, shows activity climbing from 3 to 4 records — a 33% rise. The two years nearest the cut-off are necessarily undercounted because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so treat any apparent slowdown there as an artefact of timing, not evidence of retreat.
Publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in. Growth rates on this page therefore end at 2024; running them to the last bar would understate the field.
Technology composition: hull and naval classes dominate, control systems are thinner
B63B (ships and marine vessels generally) covers 63.0% of the 127 records and B63G (naval vessels and offensive equipment) covers 47.2%, together framing this as substantially a hull-and-platform field with a strong defence/naval thread. Geophysics and survey equipment (G01V, 32.3%) and radar/sonar/positioning (G01S, 18.1%) reflect the ocean-survey use case running through many of the same vessels. Control-of-non-electric-variables filings (G05D, 11.0%) and marine propulsion (B63H, 9.4%) are comparatively lightly claimed given how central autonomy and propulsion are to the concept.
Shares are the percentage of the 127 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on Autonomous Surface Vessel Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.
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The most-cited records and a representative filing
Representative filing
WO2019229633A1 — An autonomous surface vessel
REKISE MARINE PVT. LTD.
The filing describes a mono-hull autonomous surface vessel built for self-righting stability, paired with a gyroscopic stabiliser that counters wave-induced moment to improve sea-keeping. Propulsion is battery-driven, and the hull is sealed against water ingress on accidental submergence.Filed by Rekise Marine Pvt. Ltd., published 2019-12-05.
Most-cited records in the dataset
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US5579285A | Method and device for the monitoring and remote control of unmanned, mobile underwater vehicles | 272 |
| 2 | WO2011106237A2 | Seismic data acquisition using self-propelled underwater vehicles | 51 |
| 3 | US20170291670A1 | Autonomous workboats and methods of using same | 31 |
| 4 | US20160245945A1 | Single vessel range navigation and positioning of an ocean bottom seismic node | 31 |
| 5 | US20150049588A1 | Method for detecting naval mines and naval mine detection system | 31 |
| 6 | US20160236760A1 | A system for monitoring a remote underwater location | 28 |
| 7 | US20140345511A1 | Systems and methods for deploying autonomous underwater vehicles from a ship | 20 |
| 8 | US20180162504A1 | System and Method For Using A Combination Of Multiple Autonomous Vehicles With Different Abilities, Working T… | 16 |
| 9 | US9140814B2 | System and method of using autonomous underwater vehicle to facilitate seismic data acquisition | 15 |
| 10 | US20200262532A1 | Automatic sail depowering and camber control | 12 |
Citation counts reward older filings that have had more time to accumulate citers inside this corpus; read them as a signal of technical influence, not of current commercial importance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Citation counts and representative records. Derived from a Patsnap search on Autonomous Surface Vessel Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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What the numbers mean for a filing decision
Three figures from this dataset carry direct implications for where to file, who to watch, and where a genuinely open claim might still exist.
Concentration
46.5%
of 127 records held by the top 5 of 46 ranked assignees
The top of the field is tight
Nearly half of all records in scope sit with just five of the 46 ranked assignees, and the top 10 extend that to 67.7%. A freedom-to-operate check for a new hull, stabilisation or autonomy claim should clear those leaders first — the long tail below them is thin by comparison.
Based on the assignee ranking of 46 companies across 127 records.
Filing trend
+33%
growth in filings, 2021 to 2024
Activity is rebuilding, not fading
After a 2017 peak of 16 records, filings dropped back before rebuilding: the 2021-to-2024 window shows a 33% increase. The most recent one to two years will read as lower purely because publication has not caught up with filing yet.
2024 is the most recent year treated as complete for growth comparison.
Technology mix
11.0%
of records in G05D, control of non-electric variables
Autonomy-control claims are comparatively open
Hull and naval-platform classes (B63B, B63G) dominate the corpus, but the control-systems class that most directly covers autonomous decision-making sits at just 11.0% of records. That gap relative to the hull classes around it is where a narrowly drafted control or navigation claim has more room to stand clear of prior art.
IPC shares are computed against the full 127-record set; a record may carry more than one class.
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Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to autonomous surface vessel patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Co-filing is rare in this dataset
| Assignee | Co-assignee | Shared families |
|---|---|---|
| BLUE OCEAN SEISMIC SERVICES LTD | BP Exploration Operating Co Ltd | 5 |
| HADAL | RIKOSKI RICHARD J | 2 |
| HADAL | DAMUS ROBERT S | 2 |
| SEABED GEOSOLUTIONS BV | HARTLAND MARTIN JOHN | 1 |
Only 4 co-assignee pairs appear across the 127 records, with the strongest link tied to seismic-survey vessel work. Most filings here are single-assignee, which makes the concentration at the top even more consequential for anyone assessing competitive exposure.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Co-assignee relationships and derived observations. Derived from a Patsnap search on Autonomous Surface Vessel Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
What's next
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a field with steep concentration at the top and a comparatively open autonomy-control layer underneath the dominant hull and naval classes.
Map freedom-to-operate against the top holders
Before drafting a hull, stabilisation or propulsion claim, run the leading assignees' portfolios against the specific IPC subclass you're targeting rather than the field as a whole.
Explore assignee portfolios in EurekaPressure-test a control-layer claim
G05D's comparatively low share of records suggests room for a tightly scoped autonomy or navigation-control claim; stress-test the idea against citing and cited art before committing drafting time.
Run a claim novelty check in EurekaSource: Patsnap Eureka. Forward-looking reading of the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Autonomous Surface Vessel Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
FAQ
Common questions about autonomous surface vessel patents
The dataset ranks 46 assignees across 127 records, and the concentration is steep: the top 5 alone account for 46.5% of all records, and the top 10 extend that to 67.7%. That means over two-thirds of the field's patent activity sits with a small group of organisations, leaving a long tail of single- or few-filing entrants below them. Anyone assessing competitive exposure or freedom-to-operate should start with that leading group rather than trying to survey all 46 ranked assignees evenly.
Filing peaked in 2017 at 16 records and has not returned to that level since, but the trend is not simply declining. Across 2021 to 2024, the most recent span that can be treated as complete, filings rose from 3 to 4 records, a 33% increase. Because patent publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the two years closest to the current data cut-off will always look artificially low and should not be read as evidence of a slowdown.
Ship and marine vessel design generally (IPC class B63B) is the largest category, touching 63.0% of the 127 records in scope, followed by naval and offensive vessel equipment (B63G) at 47.2%. Geophysics and survey equipment (G01V, 32.3%) and radar/sonar/positioning (G01S, 18.1%) reflect how many of these vessels are built for ocean survey work. Control-of-non-electric-variables filings (G05D), which cover much of the autonomy and navigation logic, sit at a comparatively low 11.0% of records.
The United States leads as a receiving office with 40 filings, followed by the WIPO PCT route with 18 and Europe (EPO) with 16. Australia (14), Canada (6) and the United Kingdom (6) round out the remaining jurisdictions represented in this dataset. The spread across multiple offices, including the PCT route, suggests applicants are protecting these inventions in more than one commercial or defence market rather than filing in a single home jurisdiction.
The most-cited record in this dataset, US5579285A on monitoring and remote control of unmanned mobile underwater vehicles, carries 272 citations, far ahead of the next tier of records in the 30-to-50 citation range. That gap shows how foundational early unmanned-vehicle control patents are to later autonomous surface vessel filings, even though citation counts favour older documents simply because they have had more time to accumulate citers. A new entrant should treat these high-citation records as the baseline prior art to design around, not as an indicator that the underlying technology is now settled or low-risk.
Answers are grounded in the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Autonomous Surface Vessel Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company's registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.