Press Releases | HD Hyundai

How AI is Revolutionizing the Shipbuilding Industry

2024.07.31

As various industries race to adopt AI technologies, AI-driven solutions are emerging as critical future business areas. The shipbuilding industry is no exception. AI is playing a crucial role in addressing significant challenges such as reducing carbon emissions, solving crew shortages, and managing safety on ships.

AI-Driven Management of Ship Carbon Emissions

The tightening of global environmental regulations in the shipping industry is impacting actual ship operations. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has been enforcing the Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII) regulation since 2023. This regulation measures the CO2 emissions of ships over 5,000 tons based on fuel usage and distance traveled, assigning ratings from A to E. Ships rated D for three consecutive years or those rated E face operational restrictions.

Consequently, there is a growing demand for digital solutions that monitor and manage maritime carbon emissions. According to Transparency Market Research, the global market for maritime digital transformation is projected to grow from $167.7 billion in 2022 to $367.7 billion by 2031.

Introduced in 2016 by HD Hyundai Marine Solutions, OceanWise is an optimized decarbonization and economic operation solution. Utilizing accumulated big data and AI algorithms, it measures and predicts carbon emissions based solely on ship location information and provides optimal routes to minimize fuel consumption. The goal is to supply this solution to 10,000 ships by 2027, starting with 500 this year.

OceanWise is a comprehensive collection of ship technologies, such as;

●Integrated Smartship Solution (ISS): A smart ship solution that collects and analyzes ship operation data.
●HD Hyundai intelligent Smart Solution Service System (Hi4S): A smart care system that displays data on land.
●Automatic Identification System (AIS): A system that transmits a ship’s position to inform other ships.
●Integrated Navigation System (INS): A system that enhances the safety of ship navigation.
●HD Hyundai intelligent Control & integrated System (HiCONiS): A system that integrates control of onboard equipment.
●Hi-Secure: HD Hyundai’s ship cybersecurity solution brand.
●HD Hyundai intelligent Condition Based Maintenance (HiCBM): A system that detects signs of abnormalities in onboard equipment.

As a cloud-based service, OceanWise applies basic operational data of actual ships to AI modeling based on big data including similar forms and ages to the target ship. This means the decarbonization operation solution can be implemented with software alone, without additional hardware including sensors or servers, making it cost-effective to adopt.

Era of Autonomous Large Vessels: Sailing Without Crew

With 80% of global trade being maritime, AI-driven navigation automation can bring revolutionary changes to the shipping industry.

Addressing the global shortage of crews, AI navigators can alleviate manpower shortages and reduce labor costs. Without the need for crew quarters or corridors, ships can be designed to carry more cargo and be optimized for navigation. Furthermore, as most marine accidents are due to human error, automation is expected to reduce such incidents.

In response to these needs, HD Hyundai established Avikus, the first in-house venture company in 2021 to lead the autonomous navigation industry. Avikus leverages ten years of ship control and collision avoidance technology, optimal route planning, and AI-based vision recognition and sensor fusion technologies to implement autonomous navigation technology.

In 2021, Avikus developed additional features such as automatic route planning and ship position estimation using deep learning technology. This enabled the first domestic fully autonomous navigation in June 2021, from departure to arrival, without human control. AI-based advanced technologies, such as HD Hyundai intelligent Navigation Assistant System (HiNAS), which analyzes the ship’s condition and the surrounding route to inform the navigator through augmented reality, and HiNAS Surround View Monitoring (SVN), which supports ship docking and undocking, were employed.

In June 2022, Avikus successfully completed the world’s first autonomous navigation of a 300-meter-long LNG carrier across the Pacific Ocean. This journey included over 100 collision avoidance maneuvers, improved fuel efficiency by 7%, and reduced carbon emissions by 5%.

In December 2022, Avikus received Product Design Assessment (PDA) approval from the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) for HiNAS Control, marking the first autonomous navigation solution with direct navigation control approval. The commercialized HiNAS Control adds control functions to the existing HiNAS Navigation’s perception and judgment capabilities.

HD Hyundai, leveraging these advanced technologies, has secured orders for autonomous navigation solutions for over 350 large ships worldwide by this year. In October 2022, they introduced the NeuBoat series, an autonomous navigation system for leisure boats.

AI Efficiently Managing Safety Incidents Like Ammonia Leaks and Container Losses

Marine accidents often result in catastrophic human casualties similar to The Tragedy of the Titanic, highlighting the importance of safety management on ships.

Since 2021, HD Hyundai has been developing various AI-based safety systems. HD Hyundai intelligent Camera bases Alarm Monitoring System (HiCAMS) utilizes onboard CCTV to detect and analyze safety-related events in real-time using AI, playing a crucial role in maintaining ship and crew safety. It boasts faster and more accurate detection performance compared to traditional systems by leveraging big data.

HiCAMS detects safety events, such as container losses, smoke and fire, distress signals, safety regulation violations, and lack of safety equipment, alerting users via pop-ups for significant issues.

According to HD Hyundai’s presentation at the International Tech Forum during “Posidonia 2024,” applying this AI ship management system to ammonia-fueled ships help prevent accidents as it allows real-time detection of minute ammonia leaks.

Ammonia-fueled ships are gaining attention as eco-friendly ships with zero carbon emissions. However, the key issue in ship development is how to safely eliminate the toxicity risks associated with ammonia as a fuel.

By applying HD Hyundai’s AI ship management system to ammonia-fueled ships, AI can monitor the condition of all onboard equipment from the ship’s engine to the fuel supply system in real-time to detect abnormalities and predict leak possibilities in advance. If ammonia is detected, an alarm and response system is immediately activated. Moreover, drones can instead inspect leak areas where humans cannot enter due to the lethal nature of ammonia.

Summary

AI adoption is indispensable for securing global competitiveness in the marine industry. Solutions, such as OceanWise for carbon emissions management, HiNAS for autonomous navigation, and HiCAMS for onboard safety management offer more efficient resolutions to long-standing issues in shipbuilding. As the industry evolves and faces increasingly complex future challenges, AI will solidify its position as a crucial element.

HD Hyundai, as a comprehensive heavy industries company based on digital technologies across different fields, is implementing ocean transformation with maritime AI solutions. The company plans to evolve from the world’s leading shipbuilder into a “Future Builder,” creating new values for humanity.

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