Autonomous Marine Systems
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TKMS has become the first German company to receive an Approval in Principle from DNV for the design and development of an autonomous unmanned watercraft.
The classification society granted the approval to the MUM demonstrator, confirming that the vessel was developed in accordance with specific DNV class rules for underwater technology and guidelines for autonomous and Remotely Operated Vessels (ROV). This scalable demonstrator, which measures 25 meters in length and 7 meters in width, is scheduled to undergo its first sea trials in 2026 to test specially developed operational scenarios.
Christian Rogge, Head of the Submarines Operating Unit at TKMS, said, “Among experts, compliance with class rules is considered one of the most challenging hurdles in the development of autonomous maritime systems. The AiP thus marks an important milestone that confirms the expertise of our teams across engineering, production, and project management, and lays the foundation for an entire generation of autonomous unmanned watercrafts from TKMS.”
To achieve this certification, TKMS established structured communication with relevant authorities early in the process, contributing to the creation of a cross-agency approval framework for autonomous systems. The company submitted extensive design documentation to DNV for review. The resulting approval is expected to serve as a foundation for future projects beyond the immediate MUM2 initiative.
As the coordinator for the MUM2 project consortium, TKMS collaborates with a group of academic and technical partners including EvoLogics GmbH, the University of Rostock, the Technical University of Berlin, the German Aerospace Center (DLR), and the Fraunhofer Institute for Communication, Information Processing and Ergonomics (FKIE).
The project is now entering a decisive phase as it moves toward a demonstration test in late 2026. TKMS intends to apply the insights gained from this process to future customer programs, with the goal of advancing next-generation autonomous watercraft toward series production readiness.
