Orca-Tech (ORCA UBOAT) 陕西欧卡电子智能科技有限公司
Xi'an maker of autonomous water-cleaning and weed-cutting boats, H490/RIB 750 marine USVs and the CCS-approved ORCA-APAS vessel autopilot.
Orca-Tech, which trades internationally as ORCA UBOAT, is a Xi'an-based developer of autonomous surface vessels and intelligent navigation systems for boats and ships. The operating company, Shaanxi Orca Electronic Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd., was registered in January 2017. Founder and CEO Dr. Zhu Jiannan studied at Northwestern Polytechnical University and started the company with partners Cheng Yuwei and Chi Yuhao. Commercial sales began in 2019. Orca-Tech describes its strategy as "AI for Boats": one autonomy system, the ORCA-APAS, runs across several types of vessel.
ORCA-APAS (Advanced Pilot Assistance System) combines an in-house autonomous navigation controller, perception sensors, a display and interaction unit, and software for perception, localization, planning and control. It is sold in three configurations. Solution A covers perception and fully autonomous operation for uncrewed vessels. Solution B is a driver-assistance system for yachts, government patrol boats and workboats. Solution C is an intelligent navigation system for commercial cargo ships. The company says it holds four China Classification Society (CCS) type approvals: unmanned-vessel perception and autonomous navigation, intelligent navigation, intelligent berthing, and intelligent bridge collision avoidance. It also reports APAS orders from China State Shipbuilding Corporation, COSCO Shipping, China Merchants Industry and Mediterranean Shipping Company. Orca-Tech sells the core hardware separately as well. Its marine 4D millimeter-wave radar has a 140-degree horizontal field of view, sea-clutter suppression, 4D point-cloud output and a CCS type approval, with a rated detection range of 400 m for yachts, 600 m for passenger ships and 1,000 m for cargo ships. The other components are a dual-spectrum visible and infrared perception module with a stitched field of view wider than 225 degrees, and the autonomous navigation controller.
The company's highest-volume products are uncrewed environmental workboats for rivers, lakes, reservoirs and sheltered harbors. The SMURF cleaning boat is 2.9 m long and weighs 155 kg, carries a 50 kg debris basket and runs for 6 to 8 hours; it uses millimeter-wave radar and vision to detect floating waste and avoid obstacles, and returns to a shore station for wireless charging. Orca-Tech says close to 1,000 units have shipped. The larger WasteWhale cleaner is 4.95 m long and weighs 1,300 kg, with a 15 m collection width, a 500 kg basket, a 6-DOF arm for cleaning along different bank types, and 8 to 10 hours of endurance. MOSHARK is an autonomous aquatic-weed harvester with paddle-wheel propulsion and a cutting depth adjustable from 0.3 to 0.85 m, covering about 3,800 square meters per hour. A steel-hulled large weed and debris collection vessel carries 15 cubic meters (about 6 t) and runs for 12 hours.
For coastal work, the H490 and RIB 750 multi-purpose USVs switch between uncrewed, crewed and remote-control modes and operate in sea state 4. They provide sub-meter positioning and more than 1 km of autonomous obstacle avoidance. AIS, millimeter-wave radar, LiDAR and cameras are fused to classify 14 types of maritime targets. Communications include 4G, Tiantong and BeiDou-3 satellite links, and mesh networking. Target missions include coastal patrol and law enforcement, search and rescue, offshore wind and solar operations and maintenance, aquaculture feeding and inspection, and hydrographic work. The company also builds autonomous leisure and sightseeing craft, the XI, YANG, YANG OASIS and MAN platforms, and offers co-designed custom vessels.
With Tsinghua University and Northwestern Polytechnical University, Orca-Tech released what it calls China's first water-surface autonomous driving dataset. It also published a floating-waste recognition dataset with Yoshua Bengio. The company reports more than 200 core patents and says R&D staff make up over 70% of its workforce. Its recognitions include national high-tech enterprise status and the national specialized "little giant" designation. Media reports put its deployments at more than 1,000 vessels in 13 countries, with over 2 million km of uncrewed navigation. Investors have included Turing-affiliated funds, Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund, Gobi Partners and Forebright Capital. The A round closed in 2020, B in 2024 and B+ in March 2026, followed by a Series C of several hundred million yuan in September 2026.
Primary type & automation activities this supplier delivers:
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Contact Orca-Tech (ORCA UBOAT)
WEBSITE
https://orca-tech.cnPHONE
+86 29 8755 8629HEADQUARTERS
China
Company Facts
Founded
2017
Primary Role
Manufacturer
Company Size
-
Primary Region
Asia-Pacific
Annual Sales
-
Funding Stage
Growth / Late-Stage VC
Funding Total
-
Certifications & Memberships
Keywords
- Orca-Tech (ORCA UBOAT)
- 陕西欧卡电子智能科技有限公司
- ORCA-APAS
- SMURF cleaning boat
- WasteWhale
- MOSHARK weed harvester
- H490
- RIB 750
- 4D millimeter-wave radar
- water-surface cleaning
- intelligent ship navigation
- autonomous berthing
- Manufacturer
- Component Supplier
- Software/Algorithm
- Custom Manufacturer
- Unmanned Marine Vehicle
- Perception & Vision
- Control & Software
- USV
