Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) has reportedly achieved an important industry breakthrough by successfully demonstrating autonomous vessel navigation from South Korea to Taiwan.
According to local news sources, the demonstration included the installation of Samsung’s autonomous navigation technology, known as Samsung Autonomous Ship (SAS), and the smart ship system SVESSEL aboard a 15,000 TEU-class large container ship.
The ship journeyed approximately 1,500 km from Geoje, South Kyungsang Province, to Jeju Island and Kaohsiung Port in Taiwan between June 26 and July 1.
Autonomous ships are a rising trend within the maritime industry. Recently, The 107th session of the IMO’s Maritime Safety Committee made progress developing a non-mandatory goal-based instrument regulating the operation of maritime autonomous surface ships (MASS) expected to be adopted by 2025.
To remind, last month Lloyd’s Register awarded Approval in Principle to Samsung Heavy Industries for its Samsung Autonomous Ship (SAS) Autonomous Navigation System and SVESSEL Communication System. Furthermore, in March, SHI announced that it signed a joint development agreement with Kongsberg Maritime AS, to develop next-generation LNG autonomous ships.
