Avikus, an HD Hyundai subsidiary specialising in autonomous navigation technologies, has signed contracts for the delivery of its artificial intelligence technology for 23 ships.
The HiNAS 2.0 autonomous system will be supplied to vessels under construction for South Korean owners SK Shipping and Sinokor Merchant Marine. They include a range of large vessels including container ships and LNG carriers.
Avikus announced in June that it had successfully completed autonomous navigation of the Prism Courage, an ultra-large LNG carrier. The vessel departed from the Freeport on the southern coast of the Gulf of Mexico on 1 May, passed through the Panama Canal, and arrived at the Boryeong LNG Terminal in South Chungcheong Province in Korea after 33 days. The vessel sailed about half of the 20,000 kilometre voyage using HiNAS 2.0.
The navigation system creates optimal routes and speeds based on Hyundai Global Service’s Integrated Smartship Solution (ISS). Its artificial intelligence recognises the surrounding environment, such as weather and wave heights, and nearby ships, and then controls the vessel’s steering commands in real-time.
The system increased fuel efficiency by around 7% on the Prism Courage’s voyage and reduced greenhouse gas emissions by about 5%. The system accurately recognised the locations of nearby ships during operation to avoid collision over 100 times. The voyage was monitored by ABS and the Korea Register of Shipping (KR) to verify the performance and stability of the technology.
Avikus was launched in December 2020 as the first in-house venture of Hyundai Heavy Industries Group. It succeeded in conducting the first fully autonomous operation of a 12-seater cruise ship in Korea.
