The Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with electric pioneering sea glider maker, Regent, to develop technology that is targeted at drastically reducing the time and cost of moving people and goods between coastal cities, a report said.

The MoU is also aimed at attracting investment for technology development and manufacturing at Autonomous Vehicles Industry (SAVI) – the fully integrated cluster headquartered in Masdar City that provides state-of-the-art facilities, value added services, and regulatory enablement to support the design, testing and manufacturing of autonomous vehicle applications, Emirates News Agency, WAM, said.

The MoU was signed on the sidelines of DRIFTx, Abu Dhabi’s smart and autonomous mobility transport event, which is taking place at the Yas Marina Circuit (April 25-26).

The move is a key step in Regent’s global expansion – serving an order book of over $9 billion.

Regent’s sea gliders are all-electric, wing-in-ground-effect craft that operate dock-to-dock, over-water routes within a wingspan of the water's surface, combining the speed of an airplane with the operating cost and accessibility of a boat.

Built to the same safety standards as modern aircraft and watercraft, the sea gliders will service routes up to 180 miles with existing battery technology, with the potential to serve routes of up to 500 miles once next-generation batteries become available, all using existing dock infrastructure.

Regent will leverage the opportunity to utilise the SAVI cluster’s state-of-the-art facilities, services and enabling regulatory ecosystem, and will collaborate with ADIO to solicit the local support and investment required to expand its global operations in UAE, including workforce development, supply chain, integration and sea glider delivery infrastructure.

In the current vision, Regent is targeting a pilot operational campaign in the next few years, with plans for localised sea glider manufacturing by end of decade.

Badr Al-Olama, Director General of Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO), said: “Abu Dhabi is deploying innovation at scale through its pioneering Smart and Autonomous Vehicle Industry cluster and we’re proud to welcome Regent to Abu Dhabi to shape the future of coastal transportation.

“With immense speed and efficiency, I’m confident Abu Dhabi will see the global deployment of electric sea gliders, and these will dramatically change how goods and people move between the world’s coastal areas going forward.

“As a leading hub for the development of future industries, we will leverage to stand at the very forefront of a new wave of disruptive change in mobility that is set to create tremendous opportunities for businesses over the next few decades.

“We look forward to supporting REGENT as we work through the details over the coming months to make our shared goal of localised sea glider operations and manufacturing a reality.”

Billy Thalheimer, co-founder and CEO of Regent, said: “Abu Dhabi’s SAVI cluster represents an extraordinary opportunity for our company to simultaneously support our global expansion and fulfil the strong demand of our customers already in the region.

“With our growing backlog of $9B in sea glider orders rapidly spreading throughout the Gulf, the Red Sea, Indo-Pacific and Europe, we need a way to effectively manufacture and deliver sea gliders across the Eastern Hemisphere.

“We have been thrilled by the dedicated and rapid support of ADIO, together with our existing investor EDGE’s SDF, as we work collaboratively to build a Regent hub in Abu Dhabi.” – TradeArabia News Service