Autonomous steering for directional drilling with collision avoidance

An autonomous steering system, comprising:

• an interface to receive well data;
• and
• one or more processors to perform operations including:
• detecting, based on a separation factor, a collision risk of a path of a wellbore in a subterranean formation with at least one hazard, wherein the wellbore is being drilled by steering a downhole drilling tool according to the path and the path is based on a well plan for the wellbore;
• displaying different types of drilling zones, wherein each of the different types of drilling zones correlates to one of the different types of the collision risks and is displayed via one of multiple types of visual representations that uniquely correspond to each of the different types of collision risks, wherein the at least one hazard is located within a first one of the different types of drilling zones and a second one of the different types of drilling zones is outside of the separation factor and includes no hazards;
• identifying a corridor within the second one of the different types of drilling zones for the wellbore to avoid at least the first one of the different types of drilling zones;
• modifying the path by incorporating the corridor and considering a type of the collision risk;
• displaying the modified path that is within the second one of the different types of drilling zones;
• and
• steering the downhole drilling tool according to the modified path, wherein one or more of the detecting, the identifying, the modifying, and the steering are automatically performed in real-time.

A computer program product having a series of operating instructions stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium that direct the operation of a processor when initiated to perform operations including:

• determining, using one or more separation factors, presence of one or more hazards along a path of a wellbore in a subterranean formation, wherein the wellbore is being drilled by steering a downhole drilling tool according to the path and the path is based on a well plan for the wellbore;
• modifying the path when the one or more hazard is present and based on a type of a risk of different types of collision risks with the one or more hazard and the one or more separation factors;
• displaying the modified path and different types of drilling zones, wherein each of the different types of drilling zones correlates to one of the different types of the collision risks and is displayed via one of multiple types of visual representations that uniquely correspond to each of the different types of collision risks, wherein at least one of the different types of drilling zones includes no hazards and the modified path;
• and
• steering the downhole drilling tool according to the modified path, wherein one or more of the determining, the modifying, and the steering are automatically performed in real-time.