Japanese classification society Nippon Kaiji Kyokai (better known as ClassNK) has given a technology qualification (TQ) certificate for a component of South Korean shipbuilding giant Samsung Heavy Industries’ (SHI) autonomous navigation solution.

As disclosed, the TQ—which is issued for solutions based on new concepts and designs that existing rules and standards cannot address—validated SHI’s “SAS-IBS” , which is a component of the company’s “Samsung Autonomous Navigation Assistance System (SAS)” . ClassNK had previously issued an approval in principle (AiP) for SAS at the end of October last year.