A ship controlled by an AI-powered navigation system has completed the first ever autonomous transoceanic journey.

The Prism Courage, an ultra-large self-steering vessel, used the autonomous navigation technology for about half of the 20,000km trip from the Gulf of Mexico to South Korea. In doing so, it travelled through the Panama Canal.

Carrying a cargo of liquified natural gas (LNG), it took the vessel 33 days to make the journey, from May 1st to June 2nd.

This marks the first time a vessel of this size was navigated by an autonomous system across an ocean.

The navigation system was developed by Avikus, a subsidiary of shipbuilding giant HD Hyundai. The HiNAS 2.0 is Avikus’ Level 2 autonomous navigation solution.

There are six levels of vehicle autonomy commonly defined in the field of self-driving vehicles. Level 2 is the highest level of human-assisted navigation, also known as advanced driver assistance systems. While the vehicle can perform basic navigation, such as steering and acceleration, a human being is still required to monitor the AI and can take control at any time.

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HiNAS 2.0 is designed to create optimal routes and speeds for vessels and is based on Hyundai Global Service’s Integrated Smartship Solution.

Its AI can recognise the surrounding environment, such as weather and wave heights and nearby ships. Using this information, it controls the vessel’s steering commands in real-time.

The Level 2 technology can control and operate the ship in addition to the functions of recognition and judgment.

In addition to being operated autonomously, the AI navigation system increased fuel efficiency by around 7% and reduced greenhouse gas emissions by the ship by about 5% on the transoceanic journey.

The system also accurately recognised the locations of nearby ships to avoid collision about 100 times.

The voyage was conducted under real-time monitoring by the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) and the Korea Register of Shipping to verify the performance and stability of the technology.

Avikus CEO Do-hyeong Lim said: “It is meaningful to we successfully tested the Level 2 system. We will lead innovation by upgrading autonomous navigation solutions not only for large merchant ships but also for small leisure boats.”

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