Samsung Heavy succeeds in autonomous navigation system demonstration 

Samsung Heavy Industries Co. announced on Thursday that it successfully completed the demonstration of its autonomous navigation capabilities in the Yellow Sea, Southern Sea and East Sea. 

Samsung Heavy demonstrated its autonomous driving capabilities through Segyero, a 9,200-ton large practice ship, for four days from Nov. 15.

Segyero drove itself from the West Sea in Mokpo, South Jeolla Province, passing through Ieodo and Jeju Island in the South Sea, and reaching Dokdo in the East Sea – spanning 950 km. 

Equipped with Samsung’s remote autonomous navigation system (SAS), the ship succeeded in safely avoiding 29 collision risk situations with other ships during the demonstration.

When passing near Ieodo where maritime fishing is active, SAS recognized this in real-time and suggested an alternate route every five seconds even in a complex collision situation with several fishing boats approaching from the bow and the starboard side of the Segyero simultaneously. 

The latest maritime demonstration was a test to check the internally developed system’s performance and stability in complex and various collision risk situations given Korea's geographic position as a peninsula. 

Write to Seo-Woo Jang at suwu@hankyung.com
Jee Abbey Lee edited this article.