Taiwan's Thunder Tiger Technology and American defense tech company Shield AI jointly demonstrated a coordinated swarm of autonomous unmanned surface vessels at the Dapeng Bay Sailing Base in Pingtung on July 29, marking the first time Shield AI's Hivemind artificial intelligence platform has been deployed in a multi-vessel maritime operation.
The exercise paired Thunder Tiger's SeaShark 600 and SeaShark 800 unmanned surface vessels — each equipped with Hivemind — on intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions conducted without human intervention. The vessels autonomously navigated designated waypoints, searched assigned sea areas, identified target ships, and coordinated to escort vessels out of restricted zones. The trial also marked the first integration of maritime radar and Automatic Identification System data into the Hivemind platform.
Hivemind's Cross-Domain Record Spans More Than 30 Platforms
Shield AI's Hivemind AI Pilot is already deployed on more than 30 platforms — from F-16 fighter jets and rotary-wing aircraft to ground robots and unmanned watercraft. Shield AI chief technology officer Nathan Michael said the Dapeng Bay trial underscores the system's adaptability across operating environments.
"Hivemind continues to demonstrate that true mission autonomy can cross different operational domains, platforms, and mission functions," Michael said, adding that the system brings "new capabilities to distributed intelligence gathering and maritime security missions."
The two companies formalized a strategic partnership earlier this year to integrate Hivemind across Thunder Tiger's full unmanned platform lineup for both military and civilian use. Thunder Tiger's product line spans unmanned surface vehicles and unmanned aerial vehicles; its FPV drone platform has received the U.S. Department of Defense's Blue UAS certification, verifying compliance with American and allied defense supply chain standards on cybersecurity, safety, and non-Chinese sourcing.
Taiwan Looks to Unmanned Swarms to Close Maritime Surveillance Gaps
For Thunder Tiger general manager Su Sheng-chieh(蘇聖傑), the demonstration carries strategic weight beyond its technical scope. "As an island nation, maritime security is increasingly important to Taiwan," Su said. Fielding distributed, networked, and autonomously coordinated vessel teams would allow Taiwan to more efficiently monitor surrounding waters, detect and classify threats, and accelerate operator response times — without putting personnel at risk.
Su described the Dapeng Bay exercise as "an important milestone in Taiwan's autonomous maritime unmanned systems development," and said the collaboration with Shield AI will continue to advance more resilient capabilities at sea.
Both companies said they plan to expand the partnership by adding sensor payloads, increasing the complexity of autonomous behaviors, scaling up swarm size, and eventually extending operations into open-ocean conditions.
Top Reads：
