This is the first autonomous AI-controlled ship that travels 10,000 km in 33 days without a single breakdown.

Avikus, a subsidiary of the South Korean conglomerate Hyundai, has become the world’s first company capable of fully autonomous navigation. a ship weighing 122,000 tons, which has covered more than 10,000 km.

The Prism Courage, as the ship was named, left Freeport, Texas on May 1 for South Chungcheong Province, South Korea. 33 days of transition, through the Panama Canal and then across the Pacific Ocean.

Avikus Level 2 offline navigation solution, called HiNAS 2.0, is responsible for ensuring that this ship arrives safe and sound. It is a system capable of creating optimal routes and speeds based on the integrated Smartship solution from Hyundai Global Service.

Thanks to artificial intelligence, it is able to recognize the environment, whether it be waves, weather or nearby objects, and then manage the ship’s control commands in real time.

It should be noted that this is not the first time this has happened, although on such a scale. In November 2021, an autonomous electric container ship traveled 65 km around part of Norway. Prism Courage is four times as long, 30 times as heavy, and travels 150 times as long across the Pacific Ocean.

However, the good doesn’t end there. Thanks to this system, which works in the most optimal way, it became possible Save 7% on fuel and, even better, cut greenhouse gas emissions by 5%.

After examining the reports, they also found that the ship was able to get around up to 100 different dangerous obstacles.

Avikus plans to commercialize HiNAS 2.0 within this year after receiving ABS certification due to these very results.

“We will lead the way in innovation by improving autonomous navigation solutions not only for large merchant ships, but also for small pleasure craft.”explains Do Hyun Lim, CEO of Avikus.

In the future, AI-controlled ships will be able to solve the labor shortage problem in the shipping industry, reduce pollution and improve safety, completely eliminating the possibility of human error. We are definitely on the right track.