Shield AI’s Hivemind completes first autonomous boat swarm test off Taiwan
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Shield AI’s Hivemind AI software directed a swarm of autonomous boats in a live maritime security exercise off Pingtung, Taiwan. The unmanned vessels identified and escorted a ship during the first on-water swarming test of the technology.
First On-Water Swarm
The exercise off Pingtung, Taiwan, involved two vessel types — Thunder Tiger’s SeaShark 600 and SeaShark 800 — operating under a single instance of Shield AI’s Hivemind software. It marked the first time the AI system autonomously directed a coordinated surface swarm on open water, extending its previously proven airborne capability. The boats were tasked with locating a zone, spotting an object, and escorting a vessel away from the area.
Real-Time Autonomous Coordination
Rather than relying on pre-programmed routes, Hivemind processed radar, camera, and automatic identification system (AIS) data to build navigation paths in real time. The software independently identified the search zone, detected a target, and directed the boats to coordinate their response. Shield AI’s chief technology officer Nathan Michael said the demonstration proves the system can scale across domains and functional assets for distributed intelligence missions.
What's Next
Shield AI and Thunder Tiger plan to integrate additional sensors and expand coordinated swarm capabilities for future open-ocean deployments. It remains unclear when these larger-scale military applications will be carried out.
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Shield AI’s Hivemind completes first autonomous boat swarm test off Taiwan
