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DriX

DriX is Exail's family of autonomous surface vessels for hydrographic survey and defense mine countermeasures, and the registry entity is scoped to the DriX…

Track DriX
Manufacturer
Exail
Form factor
maritime_surface
Maturity
commercial
Lifecycle
active
Deployments
1
Website
exail.com ↗

Overview

DriX is Exail's family of autonomous surface vessels for hydrographic survey and defense mine countermeasures, and the registry entity is scoped to the DriX USV family with Exail, the merged ECA Group and iXblue entity in France, as the corporate parent. It is the strongest commercial candidate in the maritime set, running the CortiX autonomy stack that provides supervised autonomous navigation and obstacle avoidance using cameras, infrared, LiDAR, and radar both at the surface and underwater, with autonomy as the primary differentiator rather than a sensor add-on. The registry records it at mature commercial maturity, with government and defense users including NOAA, which integrated DriX with the survey ship Thomas Jefferson and selected it through its Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute, the British Antarctic Survey, the Polish Navy, SHOM, and Ifremer. A scale cap-flag applies: Exail cites more than 100,000 hours at sea and more than 1,000,000 nautical miles of autonomous navigation across 25-plus countries, but those are the broader CortiX-platform totals, while a separate Exail page cites more than 15,000 DriX-specific hours across 20-plus DriX units since 2017, and these vendor-reported platform-wide and DriX-specific figures should not be conflated.

Verified vs. claimed

Maturity stage
commercial(Commercially deployed with revenue-generating operations.)
Verified deployments
1 deployment on file
Sources on file
4 sources, view all

Key facts

Autonomy level

Supervised autonomous navigation with obstacle avoidance

Sensor suite

Cameras, infrared, LiDAR, and radar (surface and underwater)

Operating hours

15,000+ DriX-specific hours since 2017

Units deployed

20+ DriX units since 2017

Countries

25+ countries (CortiX-platform totals)

Specs

Notes

Verified: Exail (the merged ECA Group + iXblue, France) makes the DriX USV family - the strongest commercial candidate in the maritime set. CortiX autonomy provides supervised autonomous navigation + obstacle avoidance; autonomy is the primary differentiator, not a sensor add-on. Government/defense users: NOAA (Thomas Jefferson integration; OECI selection), British Antarctic Survey, Polish Navy, SHOM, Ifremer. maturity=commercial (mature)., Scale (don't conflate - cap-flag): Exail cites 100,000+ hours at sea + 1,000,000+ nm of autonomous navigation across 25+ countries - but these are the broader CortiX-PLATFORM totals; a separate Exail page cites 15,000+ DriX-SPECIFIC hours and 20+ DriX units since 2017. Both are vendor-reported; do NOT conflate the platform-wide totals with DriX-specific figures., Entity scoping: Scope the entity to the DriX USV family; corporate parent = Exail. (Same scoping discipline as HUGIN under Kongsberg.)

Specs

DriX USV series: autonomous surface vessel for hydrographic survey + defense mine countermeasures. CortiX autonomy stack: supervised autonomous navigation + obstacle-avoidance (camera/IR/LiDAR/radar, surface + underwater). Made by Exail (the merged ECA Group + iXblue entity, France). Dual-use (survey + defense).

Max speed

14 kt

Weight kg

1380

Form Factor

maritime (autonomous SURFACE vessel / USV; hydrographic survey + defense MCM; mature commercial)

Data & sources

Press releases

3

Web sources

1

4 sources backing this record.View all →

Availability and pricing

Availability
Not sold (internal use)
Price
Not publicly disclosed
Units in field
Not disclosed
Sales model
Not disclosed
Lead time
Not disclosed

Pricing

No verified price is on record for DriX. Physical-AI systems are often sold through enterprise contracts or operated as a service rather than at a public list price.

How DEPLOY tracks pricing

Deployments (1)

  • DriX at Toulonoperational

    Exail DRiX USV deployed with French Navy hydrographic service in Toulon.

Recent activity

Every change to this record is dated, sourced, and independently verified where marked.

Full change history →

Deployment-verified media (1)

PRIMARY SOURCE
Courtesy of Exail

Exail footage of its DriX uncrewed surface vessel for ocean-data collection. DriX conducts autonomous surface navigation with over-the-horizon operation; a commercial survey USV.

From deployment: Toulon

Safety record

No incidents on record for DriX.

Only active incidents are counted. Retracted incidents are excluded from this summary but remain reachable at their canonical URLs.

Sources (4)

  1. https://www.exail.com/product-range/drix-series-uncrewed-surface-vessels
  2. https://nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/updates/noaa-ship-thomas-jefferson-tests-innovative-drix-autonomous-surface-vehicle/
  3. https://www.exail.com/news/noaa-ocean-exploration-cooperative-institute-chooses-drix-usv-help-build-next-generation-ocean
  4. https://www.exail.com/product/drix-h8-medium-range-usv

Compare DriX

Common questions

What is DriX?
DriX is Exail's family of autonomous surface vessels for hydrographic survey and defense mine countermeasures, and the registry entity is scoped to the DriX USV family with Exail, the merged ECA Group and iXblue entity in France, as the corporate parent. It is the strongest commercial candidate in the maritime set, running the CortiX autonomy stack that provides supervised autonomous navigation and obstacle avoidance using cameras, infrared, LiDAR, and radar both at the surface and underwater, with autonomy as the primary differentiator rather than a sensor add-on. The registry records it at mature commercial maturity, with government and defense users including NOAA, which integrated DriX with the survey ship Thomas Jefferson and selected it through its Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute, the British Antarctic Survey, the Polish Navy, SHOM, and Ifremer. A scale cap-flag applies: Exail cites more than 100,000 hours at sea and more than 1,000,000 nautical miles of autonomous navigation across 25-plus countries, but those are the broader CortiX-platform totals, while a separate Exail page cites more than 15,000 DriX-specific hours across 20-plus DriX units since 2017, and these vendor-reported platform-wide and DriX-specific figures should not be conflated.
How much does DriX cost?
DriX's price is not publicly disclosed. DEPLOY has no verified price on record for DriX from Exail. Physical-AI systems like this are often sold through enterprise contracts or operated as a service rather than at a public list price; check the manufacturer for the latest.
Is DriX actually deployed in the real world?
Yes. DriX is independently verified in real-world operation on the DEPLOY registry, confirmed at named deployment sites with primary sources: not a concept, render, or demo-only.
What are the specs of DriX?
DriX's recorded specifications on the DEPLOY registry: Max speed: 14 kt; Weight: 1380 kg. See the Specs section for the full sourced set.
Who makes DriX?
DriX is made by Exail, based in La Garde, Var, France, founded in 2022.
Methodology: Verified · 4 sources (3 primary) · last reviewed 2026-07-15

Verification posture

Verified

High confidence

Review state

Stable

Last reviewed 2026-07-15

Maturity + lifecycle

Maturity stage: commercial

Lifecycle: active

Architectural position

Cohort: maritime_surface

Sources by quality tier

3
primary-company-ir
Company IR disclosure
1
unclassified
Unclassified source

The framework is documented at /methodology. Corrections at /corrections. Reviewer: DEPLOY editorial team.

Methodology surface for DriX.

Recent coverage

DriX in third-party press

Thales acquires Exail Technologies stake as it expands undersea warfare footprint

Jul 6, 2026

Thales to buy French underwater-drone maker Exail in $4.5 billion deal

Jul 6, 2026

Exail Secures First European Sale of DriX H-9 USV for Offshore Civil Operations - Unmanned Systems Technology

Mar 24, 2026