Science & Tech · Gadgets & EVs · 16 hrs ago
Nami Island passenger ferry wins approval for autonomous navigation safety
South Korea approved the autonomous-navigation safety assessment for the Tamnara ferry, which carries passengers to Nami Island in Chuncheon.
The ferry uses an autonomous-navigation system developed by Samsung Heavy Industries, designed to support safe vessel operations.
It is the first passenger ferry in South Korea to receive this approval, following safety verification of an autonomous system on a vehicle-and-passenger ferry last December.
Nami Island has no road connection, and more than 90% of its annual visitors travel by boat, so ferry safety and efficiency matter to tourism there.
The island plans to install the system on a new ferry, the Sequoia, which is being built this year.
Nami Island aims to expand the technology gradually and use operating experience and data to develop a model that could also work at other inland tourism destinations.
Nami Island’s passenger ferry Tamnara was approved for an autonomous-navigation safety assessment by the Korea Maritime Transportation Safety Authority.
The approval makes Tamnara the first passenger ferry in South Korea to receive this assessment approval.
The ferry is equipped with Samsung Heavy Industries’ autonomous navigation system.
The approval follows a safety assessment of the car ferry Nami 51, which received the system in December last year.
Nami Island plans to install the system on a new passenger ferry, Sequoia, now under construction.
- Who
- Nami Island, Samsung Heavy Industries and the Korea Maritime Transportation Safety Authority are involved.
- What
- The passenger ferry Tamnara received approval for an autonomous-navigation safety assessment.
- When
- The approval was announced on November 8, 2026. A ceremony was held on November 5.
- Where
- Nami Island in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, South Korea.
- Why
- To extend autonomous-navigation technology to passenger ferries and support safer, more efficient inland-water passenger transport.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
The car ferry Nami 51 received Samsung Heavy Industries’ autonomous navigation system and underwent a safety assessment.
Nami Island, Samsung Heavy Industries and the Korea Maritime Transportation Safety Authority held a ceremony aboard Tamnara to mark the approval.
Nami Island announced that Tamnara had received approval for the autonomous-navigation safety assessment.
- Ferry
- Tamnara
- Approval authority
- Korea Maritime Transportation Safety Authority (KOMSA)
- Autonomous system developer
- Samsung Heavy Industries
- First in South Korea
- The first passenger ferry to receive autonomous-navigation safety assessment approval
- Next planned vessel
- Sequoia, a new passenger ferry under construction this year
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What people are saying
This approval is an achievement confirming that autonomous navigation technology can be applied to an actual passenger ferry
We will continue to introduce autonomous navigation systems in stages, putting safety first, to provide tourists with more convenient and safer services