Autonomous Underwater Vehicles: Companies, Research and Trends

Saab, Teledyne Marine, Ocean Infinity and Eelume are among the organizations working on autonomous underwater vehicles. Saab develops large uncrewed underwater systems, while Teledyne Marine supplies vehicles including gliders. Ocean Infinity uses AUVs for seafloor exploration, monitoring and mapping; Eelume develops vehicles for subsea inspection, maintenance and repair. These examples span defense, survey and infrastructure work.

Ocean Infinity, Eelume AS and Strydent Autonomous Technologies are notable startups in the 2026 dataset. Ocean Infinity applies AUVs to seafloor exploration, monitoring and mapping. Eelume focuses on maneuverable subsea inspection and maintenance vehicles, while Strydent has patented concepts for coordinated underwater vehicle fleets. Their disclosed activity reflects different routes into survey, infrastructure service and fleet autonomy.

Harbin Engineering University, Northwestern Polytechnical University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University are leading research organizations in the dataset. Harbin Engineering University has 367 documents in the defined window, with work on trajectory planning, fault detection and energy systems. Northwestern Polytechnical University studies glider swarm tracking and formation control, while Shanghai Jiao Tong University researches cooperative guidance and digital-twin methods.

Funding records show $103,156,673 across 179 grants since 2020 and $930,429,057 across 15 funding rounds. These are broad topic-associated records rather than a verified total for dedicated AUV development alone. The listed rounds include grants, project finance, spinouts and other forms of funding, so they are best treated as an indication of related financing activity.

Thyssenkrupp AG leads the listed patent holders with 13 patents, followed by Atlas Elektronik GmbH with 9. Oceaneering International, Strydent Autonomous Technologies, Eelume AS and Impossible Metals each have 4 or 5 listed patents. The figures describe the patent-holder records in the dataset, not the full global patent portfolios of these organizations.

No: AUV patent activity fell 30.9% in the last 12 months compared with the previous 12 months. In contrast, publications increased 0.3% over the same comparison period, indicating continued research activity alongside a softer patent trend. These measures describe different forms of activity and do not by themselves establish a change in commercial adoption.

Recent developments include Elbit Systems’ acquisition of International Submarine Engineering in October 2026 and new research on adaptive control and bathymetry-aware path planning. A study published in October 2026 addressed trajectory tracking under disturbances, while another proposed safety-consistent global and local planning. Recent work also explores underwater wireless charging and communication-efficient coordination for vehicle groups.

The main approaches are propeller-driven survey vehicles, buoyancy-driven gliders, hovering inspection vehicles, large-displacement UUVs and bio-inspired propulsion. Propeller vehicles favor maneuverable surveys; gliders trade speed for energy-efficient observation. Hovering platforms support close inspection, large UUVs carry out missions requiring greater payload or endurance, and bio-inspired designs target agile movement. Each approach balances mission capability against energy, control or deployment demands.

AUV applications include oceanographic and environmental research, offshore energy and subsea inspection, naval defense and mine countermeasures, hydrographic and seabed survey, deep-sea mineral exploration and subsea infrastructure security. Oceanographic research has 705 associated documents in the dataset, while offshore energy and subsea inspection has 597. These missions use vehicles to gather data or inspect areas that are difficult to access directly.