Hyundai became the first to pilot a large autonomous ship across the ocean. Avikus, a subsidiary of HD Hyundai has completed autonomous navigation of the gas tanker Prism Courage across the ocean.
Prism Courage is the 134,000-ton natural gas tanker that made an ocean passage of over 10,000 km (6,210 miles) under autonomous control. But to achieve this, Avikus employed Hyundai’s HiNAS 2.0 artificial intelligence system. For this Avikus also joined forces with specialists in autonomous navigation SK Shipping.
The ship left Freeport, Texas on May 1, 2022, and arrived at South Korea’s western Chungcheong Province 33 days later. During the voyage, the ship was monitored for its performance and stability. It was continuously supervised by the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) and the Korea Register of Shipping (KR).
According to Avikus, the system provided an increase in fuel efficiency of 7% while reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 5%.
“Avikus’ autonomous navigation technology was greatly helpful in this ocean-crossing test especially for maintaining navigating routes, autonomously changing directions, and avoiding nearby ships, which were all increasing ship crews’ work conveniences,” said Captain Young-hoon Koh of the Prism Courage.
