New research published yesterday predicts that China will lead the $1bn autonomous shipping market by 2025.

A new report published today by technology research and innovation consultancy Thetius, predicts that the People’s Republic of China will lead the autonomous shipping market by 2025. Researchers analysed close to 3,000 patents relating to autonomous shipping technology and found that 96% of them were registered in China. The vast majority of those patents were registered in the last five years by a small group of Chinese universities and private companies.

“The incredible amount of recent patent activity indicates that significant R&D funding has been made available to Chinese researchers building the next generation of autonomous shipping technology,” said Nick Chubb, Director of Thetius, “further, the government is highly supportive of the sector, having recently set up a 300 square mile autonomous shipping testbed in Guangdong.”

As well as analysing patents, the report maps the 50+ startups, SMEs, and large corporations building autonomous and unmanned shipping technology; examines venture capital investment trends in the sector; and highlights some of the industry’s key early adopters.

Other key insights from the report include:

• The maritime autonomous surface shipping (MASS) market is worth $1.1bn annually and is expected to grow 7% per year to $1.5bn by 2025.

• $113 million of venture capital has been invested in MASS technology since 2010.

• California based Saildrone is the best funded MASS startup, having received $88.5million over four rounds.