When it comes to unmanned vehicles, most people only think of cars, but in reality the scope of the technology is much broader. In fact, this has been proven by Hyundai experts, who this month launched a completely unmanned cargo ship across the Pacific Ocean, and it was controlled only by autonomous transport technology, without the involvement of operators. As a result, the trip across the ocean was quite successful – the company reports that they managed to get from the loading point to the unloading point of the cargo ship, resulting in significant fuel savings.

Also, this is not a small transport vessel, but a Prism Courage (built by HD subsidiary Hyundai Avikus) – an ultra-large transport tanker for liquefied natural gas, currently operated by SK Shipping. To make the voyage in the Pacific a success, the manufacturer equipped the ship with the HiNAS 2.0 autonomous navigation system, the second level autonomous ocean transport package (of course, similar to the autonomous SAE second level, only for shipping). And this is actually a significant achievement in this field.

The second level of autonomous management in the shipping segment means that the ship in the cargo handling process must be observed by a human operator, but does not require direct intervention. Running HiNAS 2.0, the vehicle can move automatically according to the onboard navigation system, taking into account the weather conditions, wave height and the movement of nearby ships. As with GM’s supernavigation systems, autonomous navigation systems do most of the hard work and free crews from these tasks.

Of course, it is worth noting that the Prism Courage covers only half the total distance of 20,000 kilometers on autopilot – probably the technology was used only in open waters, since such a tanker cannot yet “park” in loaded ports. But in the future, shipping companies will clearly emphasize this system – the ship under automation control saved 7% fuel, reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 5% and avoided collisions with hundreds of different obstacles.