Samsung Heavy demonstrates ship collision avoidance system

Seoul, Sep 6 (IANS) Samsung Heavy Industries on Monday said that it has succeeded in demonstrating a ship collision avoidance system.

The shipbuilder's remote autonomous navigation system, known as Samsung Autonomous Ship (SAS), helped two autonomous ships travelling their trajectories avoid by detecting each other in seas off the southwestern island of Gageo, Samsung Heavy said.

Samsung Heavy said that the demonstration on the sea is the first of its kind in the world.

A 9,200-tonne ship of Mokpo National Maritime University and a 300-tonne tug of Samsung Heavy were used to demonstrate the collision avoidance system, the shipbuilder said.

In October 2020, Samsung Heavy said that it successfully navigated its 300-tonne remote autonomous ship in seas off Geoje Island, 398 kilometres south of Seoul, via a remote control system at a research centre located in Daejeon, 250 kilometres away from the seas, reports Yonhap news agency.

Samsung Heavy plans to commercialise its independently developed autonomous navigation system SAS by 2022.

Back in July, Mega container ship ZEPHYR LUMOS collided with Panamax bulk carrier GALAPAGOS in Malacca Strait off Melaka, Malaysia, halfway between Singapore and Port Dickson. Both ships were proceeding in western direction.