Xiangzhou District, Zhuhai

Yunzhou-Tech USV Technology Harbor, China's first R&D, test and industrial incubation site for unmanned surface vehicles (USVs), is expected to come into service in June 2018. USVs are autonomous vehicles used on the surface of water to collect information, deliver objects, harness energy, make observations, or perform other marine functions.

Zhang Yunfei, chairman of Zhuhai Yunzhou Intelligence Technology Ltd (Yunzhou-Tech), said the foundation pit is being excavated in Tangjiawan and the building will be capped by year-end. "Technology Harbor is expected to improve the speed of technological accumulation and iteration by fivefold or tenfold," he claimed.

Yunzhou-Tech USV Technology Harbor under excavation [Photo courtesy Zhuhai TV]

Lying at the foot of a mountain and facing the sea near the future Tangjiawan Port Wharf, Technology Harbor overlooks Qi'ao Island to the north. It covers 32,000 sq m with an estimated floor area of 50,000 sq m. To house indoor laboratories, trial pools, and offshore test areas, the facility will handle 108 items of eight categories to accelerate technological research and development.

Technology Harbor will also provide public technology services benefiting the USV and marine intelligent-equipment industries. It will promote cooperation among hi-tech enterprises, research institutes, and key universities.

China now has unprecedented demand for USV technology in terms of artificial intelligence, civil-military integration, and marine strategy. In response, Yunzhou-Tech plans to develop Technology Harbor into an industry lodestone gathering domestic and overseas colleges, scientific research institutions, and companies related to the upstream and downstream industrial chains.

Yunzhou-Tech is the first domestic enterprise focusing on the USV development and production. Established in Zhuhai in 2010, it has become a leading enterprise in the industry with production of the world's first pro-environment USV and China’s first oceanographic survey, stealth, and military USVs. The strategic direction of Yunzhou-Tech USV in recent years has been from inland to ocean. Its marine invisible investigation USV won the Science & Technology Progress Award (special class) of State Oceanic Administration last year.