What ORCA-TECH does

ORCA-TECH (欧卡智舶), founded in 2017 and headquartered in Xi'an, China, develops unmanned water surface driving technology and autonomous service vessels. The company builds a vertically integrated product portfolio spanning four application domains: inland water environmental management (SMURF 鲸灵 compact cleaning boat, 智多清 large cleaning boat, 智速割 and 智驭割 aquatic weed-cutting vessels), intelligent water tourism (Xi/汐 L4-level autonomous cruise boat and Yang/漾 'water super space' experience vessel), maritime operations (H490 multi-function nearshore USV, RIB 750 aquaculture USV, Cangxun/沧巡 ocean USV), and the APAS (Advanced Pilot Assistance System) intelligent ship driving platform offered in three tiers (A: full unmanned, B: advanced driver assist, C: assisted driving).

The underlying technology stack combines a proprietary autonomous driving domain controller with multi-sensor fusion across LiDAR, 4D millimeter-wave radar (including an internally developed 77GHz single-chip 4D radar), stereo cameras, RTK/INS, and AIS, supporting sub-meter positioning and autonomous obstacle avoidance, berthing, return-to-base, and fleet coordination. ORCA-TECH claims China's first CCS type approval certificate for unmanned surface vehicle perception and autonomous navigation. The company has published first-of-kind datasets including USVInland (multi-sensor inland USV dataset) and FloW (floating waste detection, co-developed with Turing Award laureate Yoshua Bengio, accepted at ICCV 2021), and holds over 100 national invention patents and software copyrights. Cumulative autonomous navigation mileage exceeds 700,000 km across 1,000+ deployed vessels in 12+ countries.

The business model combines hardware sales (cleaning boats, cruise boats, marine USVs), transaction-based revenue from tourist rides on cruise boats deployed in 50+ scenic areas, licensing of the APAS system to other vessel manufacturers, and professional services (on-site surveys, route planning, system integration, after-sales). Go-to-market relies on direct enterprise and government field sales with a professional advisory team, regional sales managers (e.g., East China), and international distribution partnerships. Customer base is concentrated in government water affairs bureaus, environmental sanitation departments, 5A scenic areas, hydropower stations, and port authorities across domestic Chinese markets and select international geographies. The company has raised approximately $50M+ in disclosed funding across rounds from 2017–2026, with strategic advisors including Turing Award winner Academician Yao Qizhi and DJI Chairman Li Zexiang.

Name

ORCA-TECH

Legal name

陕西欧卡电子智能科技有限公司

Website

http://www.orca-tech.cn/

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

ORCA-TECH (欧卡智舶) develops autonomous water surface vessels and the APAS intelligent ship driving system for government water affairs, scenic area tourism, and maritime operations. The Xi'an-based company has deployed 1,000+ vessels across 12+ countries with 700,000+ km of autonomous navigation.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Autonomous Surface Vehicles (Unmanned Boats / Marine Robotics)

NAICS

Ship and Boat Building (33661), Navigational Services to Shipping (48833), Scenic and Sightseeing Transportation, Water (48721)

SIC

Search, Detection, Navagation, Guidance, Aeronautical Sys (3812), Misc Industrial & Commercial Machinery & Equipment (3590), Water Transportation (4400)

akta.pro primary industry

Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USV) & Autonomous Maritime Surface Platforms (IMABAIAE)

akta.pro secondary industries

Marine & Underwater Robotics (USVs/UUVs) (HDAAAIAH), Maritime Unmanned Systems (USV/UUV) & Control Stations (IMABAKAJ), Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUV) & Autonomous Subsea Platforms (IMABAIAF), Unmanned Naval Vessels (USV/UUV) (IMAJABAH)

Keywords

• Unmanned surface vehicles
• Autonomous boats
• Water cleaning robots
• Ship autonomous driving
• Marine robotics

Headquarters

HQ city

Xian Shi

HQ country

China

HQ region

Asia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. 无人驾驶环保船销售 (Unmanned Cleaning Boat Hardware Sales): Sale of autonomous cleaning boats including Smurf 鲸灵, 智多清, 智速割, 智驭割 models. One-time hardware purchase with ongoing software support. Ships sold to government water affairs bureaus, scenic areas, hydropower stations across 12 countries.
2. 智能游船运营 (Smart Cruise Boat Operations): Intelligent cruise boats deployed in scenic areas for tourism operations. Revenue generated from tourist rides, commercial activities (coffee boats, water gun boats). Deployed in 50+ scenic areas across China including 5A-level attractions.
3. 智舶系统 APAS 授权 (APAS System Licensing): Licensing of proprietary APAS autonomous driving system to other vessel manufacturers and maritime operators. Provides software and hardware integration for autonomous navigation capabilities on various ship types.
4. 解决方案及专业服务 (Solutions and Professional Services): Customized smart water management solutions including on-site surveys, route planning, system integration, and after-sales support. Professional services include data platform construction and digital management system deployment.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

ORCA-TECH designs and manufactures unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) and the proprietary APAS water-surface autonomous driving software/hardware stack. Its product lines include autonomous environmental cleaning boats (Smurf, 智多清, 智速割, 智驭割), L4-level autonomous cruise boats for tourism (汐 Xi, 漾 Yang), marine multi-purpose unmanned boats (H490, RIB 750, 沧巡 Cangxun), and the licensable APAS autonomous navigation system, sold to government water affairs bureaus, scenic areas, hydropower stations, maritime operators, and shipping companies.

Product overview

ORCA-TECH (欧卡智舶) is a水面无人驾驶技术领导者 (surface autonomous driving technology leader) with three core product lines: 无人驾驶环保船 (autonomous environmental cleaning boats), 智能载人游船 (intelligent passenger cruise boats), and 智舶系统APAS (intelligent ship driving system). The product portfolio includes: SMURF (small cleaning boat), 智多清 (large cleaning boat), 智速割 (weed-cutting boat), 智驭割 (large weed/floating debris boat) for environmental cleaning; Xi and Yang autonomous cruise boats for cultural tourism; H490, RIB 750, and Cangxun ocean unmanned boats for maritime applications; plus the APAS intelligent driving system offered in three levels (A-unmanned, B-advanced assist, C-assist). The company also publishes open datasets (USVInland, FloW) and provides industry solutions for smart water operations and cultural tourism.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• SMURF 鲸灵: Compact autonomous cleaning boat for water surface cleaning, water quality monitoring, and water area inspection
• 智多清
• 智速割
• 智驭割
• 汐
• 漾
• 智舶系统 APAS
• H490 海洋全能无人艇
• RIB 750 海洋养殖无人艇

Products and services

• APAS (智舶系统) Advanced Pilot Assistance System Intelligent ship autonomous driving software/hardware system providing advanced perception, autonomous navigation, obstacle avoidance, and autonomous berthing for unmanned vessels, yachts, work boats, and medium/large cargo ships. Sold/licensed to shipbuilders and maritime operators.
• SMURF 鲸灵 Unmanned Cleaning Boat
• 智多清 Large-Scale Unmanned Cleaning Boat
• 智速割 (Moshark) Autonomous Weed-Cutting Boat
• 智驭割 Large Intelligent Weed-Cutting and Floating Debris Collection Boat
• H490 Marine Multi-Function Unmanned Boat
• RIB 750 Marine Aquaculture Unmanned Boat
• Xi (汐) Autonomous Cruise Boat
• Yang (漾) Water Super Space Boat
• Cangxun (沧巡) Marine Multi-Function Unmanned Boat
• Smart Water Domain Operation & Maintenance Solution
• Smart Cultural Tourism Solution

Quantifiable outcome

• 综合效率提升 300% (300% efficiency improvement)
• +6 more outcomes

Named customers12 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability8 records

Feature9 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core and secondary.

• 清华大学 (Tsinghua University)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2017Academic research partnership for autonomous driving technology development. Co-published China's first water surface autonomous driving dataset. Yao Qiyin (China's only Turing Award winner) provides technical direction guidance to the team.
• 西北工业大学 (Northwestern Polytechnical University)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2017Academic partnership for water surface autonomous driving technology research. Collaborated on USVInland dataset development and joint technology innovation.
• 香港科技大学 (HKUST)secondaryStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2017Academic research collaboration on robotics and autonomous systems. Professor Gao Bingqiang serves as technical advisor.
• 西安交叉信息核心技术研究院 (Xi'an Institute for Core Technologies)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2017Strategic partnership led by Turing Award winner Yao Qiyin. Provides technology development and AI expertise support for ORCA-TECH's autonomous driving systems.
• Yoshua BengiocoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2017Jointly published FloW dataset (floating waste detection) with Turing Award laureate. Pioneering global research on water surface waste detection using AI.
• 东莞松山湖机器人产业基地 (Songshan Lake Robotics Base)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerRobotics industry base led by Professor Li Zexiang (DJI Chairman). Provides hardware product supply chain support and manufacturing expertise.
• 李泽湘教授 (Prof. Li Zexiang)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerChairman of DJI, founder of XbotPark. Serves as advisor providing hardware product supply chain guidance and manufacturing capabilities.
• 姚期智院士 (Academician Yao Qizhi)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerChina's only Turing Award winner. Leads Xi'an Institute for Core Technologies, providing AI and autonomous driving technical guidance.
• 天津大学 (Tianjin University)secondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic research partnership for marine technology and autonomous systems research.
• 浙江大学 (Zhejiang University)secondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic collaboration for AI and robotics research in water applications.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights7 records

Direct peers

• Yunzhou Tech (云洲智能): China's leading unmanned surface vehicle manufacturer, producing USVs for environmental monitoring, security, and surveying. Closest direct competitor to ORCA-TECH in the Chinese inland-water cleaning and survey USV market.
• Saildrone: US-based developer of wind and solar-powered autonomous surface vehicles for ocean data collection, hydrography, and maritime domain awareness. Direct peer in autonomous navigation and remote-mission USVs, with overlap in defense and environmental applications.
• Sea Machines Robotics: Boston-based autonomous control systems vendor for commercial workboats, providing perception, path-planning, and remote command software comparable to ORCA-TECH's APAS stack. Direct peer in marine autonomy software/platform play.
• Maritime Robotics: Norwegian provider of unmanned surface vessels and autonomy software for survey, inspection, and security applications. Comparable in maritime autonomous navigation, sensor fusion, and remote operation.
• AutoNaut: UK-based designer of wave-propelled autonomous surface vessels for long-endurance ocean data collection. Direct peer in unmanned long-duration maritime platforms with similar autonomous navigation technology.
• Sea-Kit International: UK-based builder of unmanned surface vessels for hydrographic survey, inspection, and cargo transport. Direct peer in over-the-horizon autonomous boats with ship-class regulatory certifications analogous to CCS type approval.
• ThayerMahan: US maritime autonomy company providing autonomous surface systems for hydrography, marine archaeology, and defense. Direct peer in unmanned boat solutions for government and commercial survey customers.
• Hai-Ling Technology (海兰信): Chinese listed provider of marine electronics and unmanned surface platforms for environmental monitoring and maritime management. Direct peer in the China market for inland-water and offshore USVs and smart-water digital systems.

Broad incumbents

• Liquid Robotics (Boeing): Subsidiary of Boeing producing wave-powered Wave Glider USVs for persistent ocean monitoring and defense ISR. Larger incumbent with overlapping autonomous surface technology for maritime data and defense missions.
• Kongsberg Maritime: Norwegian marine technology major offering autonomous and remote-control vessel systems, sensors, and integrated bridge solutions. Broad incumbent with overlapping autonomous-navigation capability applied across many vessel types.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Compliance9 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds7 records

Investors24 records

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about ORCA-TECH