Samsung Heavy, Unveils Research Vessel for 'Fully Autonomous Navigation'

'Shift-Auto' Departure from Geoje Shipyard on the 21st

Photo of the fully autonomous navigation demonstration vessel Shift Auto departing. Photo by Samsung Heavy Industries

Samsung Heavy Industries announced on the 21st that it will hold a departure ceremony for 'SHIFT-Auto (SHI Future Transportation-Autonomous),' a mission-based autonomous navigation research vessel equipped with fully autonomous navigation capabilities from the design stage.

Attendees including Choi Sung-an, CEO of Samsung Heavy Industries, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, and major classification societies will board the 'SHIFT-Auto' after the event to directly experience autonomous navigation technology while sailing in the waters off Gohyeon Bay, Geoje.

The 12-passenger 'SHIFT-Auto' (photo) applies a catamaran structure that minimizes hull shaking to optimize autonomous navigation research, and is equipped with Samsung Electronics' IoT system, SmartThings, ensuring reliability and safety in data collection. The catamaran structure refers to a twin-hull design combining two hulls, characterized by low vibration and excellent stability.

While existing autonomous vessels were only capable of limited demonstrations such as obstacle identification and detour guidance, 'SHIFT-Auto' incorporates various autonomous navigation element technologies from the design stage, including automatic docking and voice-based control, offering the advantage of easy scalability for future technology development.

Samsung Heavy Industries plans to demonstrate 'mission-based fully autonomous navigation' technology through 'SHIFT-Auto,' which performs automatic docking, autonomous navigation, and berthing without crew intervention, and to develop it into an integrated autonomous navigation platform combining artificial intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies.

Lee Dong-yeon, Vice President and Head of the Shipbuilding and Marine Research Institute at Samsung Heavy Industries, emphasized, "SHIFT-Auto is a milestone technology toward fully autonomous navigation," adding, "Samsung Heavy Industries will stand tall as a global leader in autonomous navigation."

Meanwhile, demonstrations of vessels equipped with Samsung Heavy Industries' self-developed autonomous navigation systems have been continuously successful. Following last year’s 1,500 km voyage of the EVERGREEN large container ship in the South China Sea, in October this year, the Mokpo National Maritime University training ship 'Segeroho' completed a demonstration on the approximately 2,800 km Philippine route, marking significant progress toward the commercialization of autonomous navigation systems.