Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) has held a launch ceremony for its latest autonomous research vessel prototype, SHIFT-Auto (SHI Future Transportation-Autonomous), equipped with full autonomous navigation capabilities, according to Smart Maritime Network.
Attendees at the event in Korea had the chance to experience the autonomous navigation technology first-hand by boarding SHIFT-Auto for a trial voyage off the coast of Geoje in Gohyeon Bay after the ceremony.
The 12-passenger vessel is equipped with Samsung Electronics’ SmartThings IoT system to manage data collection, and integrates a range of different autonomous navigation technologies, including automatic berthing and unberthing as well as voice-based control.
“SHIFT-Auto represents a milestone toward fully autonomous navigation. Samsung Heavy Industries is poised to become a global leader in autonomous navigation,” said Lee Dong-yeon, Vice President and Head of SHI’s Marine Research Center (translated from Korean).
This launch is the latest in a string of SHI demonstrations of its autonomous navigation systems development in recent years, following a 1,500-kilometre South China Sea voyage by an Evergreen container ship in 2023, and the completion of a 2,800-kilometre journey this October by Mokpo National Maritime University’s training ship Segero.