Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) have various applications in both military and civilian fields. A wider operation area and more complex tasks require better overall range performance of AUVs. However, until recently, there have been few unified criteria for evaluating the range performance of AUVs. In the present work, a unified range index, i.e., L*, considering the cruising speed, the sailing distance, and the volume of an AUV, is proposed for the first time, which can overcome the shortcomings of previous criteria using merely one single parameter, and provide a uniform criterion for the overall range performance of various AUVs. After constructing the expression of the L* index, the relevant data of 49 AUVs from 12 countries worldwide have been collected, and the characteristics of the L* range index in different countries and different categories were compared and discussed. Furthermore, by analyzing the complex factors affecting the range index, methods to enhance the L* range index value, such as efficiency enhancement and drag reduction, have been introduced and discussed. Under this condition, the work proposes a unified and scientific criterion for evaluating the range performance of AUVs for the first time, provides valuable theoretical insight for the development of AUVs with higher performance, and then arouses more attention to the application of the cutting-edge superlubricity technology to the field of underwater vehicles, which might greatly help to accelerate the coming of the era of the superlubricitive engineering.

自主水下航行器（AUV）在军事和民用领域都有多种应用。更广阔的作业区域和更复杂的任务要求AUV更好的整体航程性能。然而，直到最近，评估AUV航程性能的统一标准还很少。在本工作中，首次提出了综合考虑 AUV 的巡航速度、航行距离和体积的统一航程指标，即 L*，可以克服以往仅使用单一标准的缺点。参数，为各种AUV的整体航程性能提供统一的标准。构建L*指数表达式后，收集了来自全球12个国家的49艘AUV的相关数据，并对不同国家、不同类别的L*范围指数特征进行了比较和讨论。此外，通过分析影响航程指数的复杂因素，介绍并讨论了提高L*航程指数值的方法，如增效、减阻等。在此条件下，该工作首次提出了统一、科学的AUV航程性能评价标准，为开发更高性能的AUV提供了宝贵的理论见解，进而引起人们对前沿应用的更多关注。将超润滑技术引入水下航行器领域，将极大有助于加速超润滑工程时代的到来。