Technologies related to maritime autonomous surface ships (MASS) are being actively developed to reduce human error, ease crew workloads, and address labor shortages. To support the implementation of such technologies, ClassNK has published its ‘Guidelines for Technology Qualification’, which enable the safety assessment of novel technologies not covered by existing regulations.
‘SAS’ developed by Samsung Heavy Industries is an Autonomous Navigation System (ANS) including the functions of situational awareness for recognizing own vessel and its surrounding environment, planning actions for collision and grounding avoidance, and performing vessel track control through an autopilot. ‘SAS-IBS’ is software designed to assess the risk of collisions and grounding with surrounding vessels and other obstacles, create safe paths to avoid such risks, and provide alert management functions based on its operational design domain.
ClassNK examined ‘SAS-IBS’, based on its ‘Guidelines for Technology Qualification’, including novelty evaluation, risk assessment, simulation testing, and qualification validation. Upon confirming that core functions for achieving autonomous navigation meet the requirements, ClassNK issued the statement.
ClassNK will continue supporting the implementation of automated/autonomous operation technologies by setting standards and technical verification.
