Samsung Heavy Industies Accelerates Physical AI Push

Samsung Heavy Industries is rapidly advancing its 'physical AI on the sea' technology, aligning with Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong's vision of 'physical artificial intelligence' as a key growth driver. A notable collaboration with British AI firm Orca AI, which recently validated its technology with a major shipping company, highlights this synergy.

Samsung Heavy Industries recently announced plans to develop an autonomous shipyard in Geoje, leveraging its SAS system and the newly established 'Physical AI Lab' under Samsung Electronics' RX Business Promotion Office. This autonomous navigation platform for ships aims to control vessels by adjusting speed and direction based on real-time marine environment assessments and collision risk evaluations.

Samsung Heavy Industries' SAS system, designed to integrate various sensor data and make autonomous decisions, has already proven its capabilities on a 15,000 TEU container ship operated by Taiwan's Evergreen, successfully navigating a 10,000 km route without human intervention. The integration of Orca AI's technology with Samsung Heavy Industries' SAS system is anticipated to create a more sophisticated autonomous navigation ship.

The collaboration with Orca AI has already resulted in a 48% reduction in close encounter incidents per 1,000 nautical miles and an 84% decrease in open sea close encounters on ships tested by Eastern Pacific Shipping, demonstrating significant improvements in vessel safety and operational efficiency.