Orca AI and SHI in joint development deal

Orca AI has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) to jointly develop and deploy autonomous vessel technologies across both newbuild and retrofit markets.

 

The phased collaboration will combine SHI’s autonomous solutions with Orca AI’s AI-powered maritime operations system, covering AI-assisted navigation, berthing and speed optimisation.

 

As part of the agreement, Orca AI will integrate SHI’s SVISION berthing assistance system and autonomous speed control solution into its suite, which currently covers more than 1,200 vessels.

 

SHI will in turn embed Orca AI’s technology as standard on newbuild vessels equipped with its Samsung Autonomous Ship system. Joint research and development activity will focus on real-time decision support, adaptive navigation and continuous performance optimisation, drawing on large-scale operational data from both companies.

 

Orca AI’s fully automated SeaPod watchkeeper unit uses computer vision, with both day and thermal cameras, to provide bridge teams with 360° situational awareness, detecting, tracking and prioritising navigational risks in real time.

 

Yarden Gross, CEO and co-founder of Orca AI, said the partnership created “a practical path to scaling autonomous capabilities, from newbuild vessels to existing fleets”.

 

SHI executive vice president Hyun Joe Kim, head of SHI’s Autonomous Ship Research Institute, said autonomous navigation is “a key competitive factor for the future of the shipbuilding industry”.

 

This article appeared in Insights, TNA May/June 2026