INCHEON– Avikus, a unit of South Korea’s leading shipbuilding group HD Hyundai, said Tuesday it aims to commercialize its Level 2 autonomous navigation system in global markets within this year.
Avikus has sold 210 units of the Level 1 system, mostly to overseas shippers that operate high-end commercial ships such as container carriers and liquefied natural gas (LNG) ships.
Avikus now aims to sell the Level 2 system for those commercial ships later this year and then to leisure boats starting next year.
“The autonomous navigation system market has just opened. The commercial ship market is limited so we are also looking to the leisure boat market to sell our autonomous navigation system,” Avikus Chief Executive Lim Do-hyeong said in a press conference.
The company will initially focus on promoting its Level 2 autonomous navigation system in the United States as the country has 50 percent of the world’s registered leisure boats, Lim said.
Moreover, it plans to participate in the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show in October to showcase the Level 2 technology and receive orders from shippers.
There are four levels in autonomous navigation technologies approved by the International Maritime Organization (IMO). In the Level 2 technology, crew members need to be on board to intervene in case of an emergency situation.
A Level 3 vessel does not require crew members and the remote-control system is available in case of an emergency. At Level 4, a boat’s automated features can navigate under any conditions.
To place the Level 3 and Level 4 ships in the market, there must be a revision to current maritime laws, which ban the operation of unmanned ships due to security reasons, the company said.
Avikus said it has big growth potential as it has ample track records of vessel navigation as a unit of the world’s biggest shipbuilding group in terms of sales and orders.
The autonomous navigation ships and related equipment market is expected to grow by an average rate of 12.6 percent a year to reach US$235.7 billion in 2028, according to global market research firm Acute Market Reports.
In June, Avikus conducted the world’s first transoceanic voyage of an LNG ship with the Level 2 technology.
The 180,000-cubic-meter LNG carrier sailed half of nearly 20,000 kilometers of the monthlong voyage from Freeport on the southern coast of the Gulf of Mexico to the Boryeong LNG Terminal in South Korea using Avikus’ HiNAS 2.0 system.
HiNAS stands for the company’s Level 2 Hyundai Intelligent Navigation Assist System.
Meanwhile, Avikus plans to apply the Docking Assist System (DAS) and the Navigation Assist System (NAS) for autonomous navigation in leisure boats.
HD Hyundai, formerly known as Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings, has Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co. (KSOE) as a subholding company under its wing. KSOE has three major affiliates — Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Hyundai Mipo Dockyard Co. and Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries Co.
Source: Yonhap News Agency