Research status of autonomous underwater vehicles in China

Recently, the autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) has become a research hotspot with regard to unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs). The AUV has been widely used in marine scientific research, marine resource investigations, and marine security assurance. With the support of the state, China has made an important breakthrough in deep-sea AUV technology. AUVs have played an irreplaceable role in various deep-sea resource surveys on a large scale in voyage applications. The paper introduces the research status of foreign AUVs, the development of China's deep-sea AUVs, and prospects the trend of the deep-sea AUV in China.