New report highlights USV industry challenges

’Significant technological gaps’ are limiting the widespread adoption and full autonomy of USVs, the report, by the US marine autonomy specialist Janus Defense reveals in its annual report, Janus Review.

In a look into the global USV industry, the report has found reluctance around intellectual property sharing, concerns about competitive advantage and the absence of agreed industry standards are holding things up in an industry that author Jack Dougherty says is ‘undoubtedly the future’.

“USV technology is at a crossroads,” says Dougherty. ”It is undoubtedly the future. But progress is slower than it should be. The reality is that developing a new USV requires heavy upfront investment in R&D, testing and certification, costs that must be recouped over a small number of sales.

“Unlike automotive start-ups that can enter the market with well-established supply chains and contract manufacturers, USV companies often have to build their own infrastructure from the ground up, further increasing costs.

“Ultimately, the low-volume nature of the industry creates a cycle: high costs limit demand, limited demand discourages investment, and slow investment stifles technological progress. Until USVs become more widespread and production volumes increase, these challenges will continue to shape the industry’s growth.”

One of the issues highlighted is that every USV manufacturer creates their own User Interface (UI), which it says is often ‘re-inventing the wheel’, leading to wasted effort, higher costs and slower innovation cycles.

“If there was an open-source UI and standardised API (Application Programming Interface) for USVs, everyone would jump on board immediately,” the report says. “Modular autonomy components, easily assembled like Legos, would accelerate innovation, reduce development costs, and allow users to easily tailor their systems to specific mission needs.”

There are also problems with recruitment and finding the specialists required ‘who can bridge multiple disciplines and thirve in an industry that lacks the structure and predictability of more mature fields’.

The report is due to be released imminently.