Story By: Rob O’Dwyer
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.
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 Seger
About the Author
Rob O’Dwyer
Rob is Chief Network Officer and one of the founders of Smart Maritime Network. He also serves as Chairman of the Smart Maritime Council. Rob has worked in the maritime technology sector since 2005, managing editorial for a range of leading publications in the transport and logistics sector. Get in touch by email by clicking here, or on LinkedIn by clicking here.
