On November 21, Samsung Heavy Industries held a launching ceremony for “SHIFT-Auto (SHI Future Transportation-Autonomous)”, a research vessel designed from the ground up with fully autonomous navigation capabilities.
The 12-passenger research vessel features a catamaran structure that minimizes hull swaying. The catamaran consists of two hulls combined to provide lower vibration and better stability. The vessel is also equipped with Smart Things, Samsung Electronics’ Internet of Things system, to ensure reliability and safety of data collection.
Samsung Heavy Industries said that the existing autonomous navigation vessels can be demonstrated in a limited range of obstacle recognition and navigation around the route, but “Shift Auto” from the design stage to apply a variety of autonomous navigation technology, such as automatic docking, voice control, and has good scalability for new technologies.
Samsung Heavy Industries plans to validate “SHIFT-Auto,” a fully autonomous mission-based navigation technology that can dock, navigate and moor autonomously without crew intervention, and develop it into an integrated platform that incorporates AI and Internet of Things technologies.
“Shift Auto is a milestone on the way to fully autonomous navigation technology, and Samsung Heavy Industries will rise to become a global leader in autonomous navigation,” said Lee Dong-yeon, director of Samsung Heavy Industries’ Shipbuilding and Marine Research Institute.
The real ship verification of the autonomous navigation systems developed by Samsung Heavy Industries has also been successful. After Evergreen Marine’s large container ship completed a 1,500-kilometer voyage in the South China Sea last year, in October this year, the training ship “Segae Ro” of Mokpo National Maritime University completed a verification of a route of about 2,800 kilometers to the Philippines, marking a major step forward in the commercial development of the company’s autonomous navigation system.