UAE-US partnership brings autonomous vehicle services to the Middle East

U.S.-headquartered Ocean Power Technologies (OPT) has partnered up with Unique Group, a UAE-headquartered innovator in subsea technologies and engineering, to take its autonomous vehicle services to the Middle East.

The companies will collaborate to deploy OPT’s existing WAM-V unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) in the UAE and other countries in the Gulf Collaboration Council (GCC) region.

According to OPT, integrating its commercially available vehicles with Unique’s position in the offshore energy industry in the UAE will accelerate the adoption of USVs in the region.

Philipp Stratmann, OPT’s CEO, said: “Working with Unique Group will further accelerate our efforts to deploy USVs globally. We are very excited about the prospects of expanding into the UAE and applaud the local industry’s forward thinking in adopting autonomous technologies.”

Jack Dougherty, Global Head of USV at Unique Group, said that Unique was committed to helping OPT develop a GCC-specific WAM-V 22 which will be designed to meet the region’s stringent safety regulations while ensuring environmentally conscious and efficient operations.

This news comes a week after OPT announced it was selected as a preferred supplier for its wave-powered buoy for delivery in the Middle East.

The U.S. company also recently delivered the first set of WAM-V USVs to subsea specialist Sulmara as part of the largest single order of WAM-Vs to date.