Bureau Veritas delivers Approval in Principle to DriX - an innovative Unmanned Surface Vessel

This AiP addresses the safety requirementsof the marine drone, which operates under the novel concept of remotely supervised autonomy.

With a length of 8 metres, DriX is an Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) equipped with advanced perception means, including a radar, a lidar and cameras, as well as artificial intelligence, which enable it to adapt to its environment, avoid obstacles and carry out missions autonomously. Designed to support hydrographic and geophysical surveys, water column analysis and subsea positioning operations, DriX has been used by major hydrographic institutes and energy companies worldwide.

Developed by French company iXblue, DriX has been certified by BV for its system architecture, its operational envelope, its construction (Malta Cross certificate for the hull), as well as its autonomy functions. The NI641 “Guidelines for Autonomous shipping” have provided a framework for a thorough analysis of the DriX architecture and its critical functions in a way that is adapted to autonomous marine systems.