MERCHANT ship Prism Courage made it from the Gulf of Mexico to South Korea using a semi-autonomous navigation system from HD Hyundai subsidiary Avikus, reports London's PC Magazine.
Avikus declared that Prism Courage "sailed half of roughly 20,000 kilometres in total distance with the autonomous navigation technology HiNAS 2.0," with the ship's crew taking control for the other half of the journey.
However, the company is undeterred, declaring "this transoceanic voyage is the world's first case of a vessel using autonomous navigation technology.
"In this ocean crossing, the Prism Courage equipped with HiNAS 2.0 was operated autonomously on the optimal routes, increasing the fuel efficiency by around seven per cent while reducing greenhouse gas emissions by about five per cent," said Avikus.
"Also, the system accurately recognised the locations of nearby ships during operation to avoid collision over 100 times."
HiNAS 2.0 utilises Artificial Intelligence (AI) to recognise specific weather patterns, respond to waves of varying heights, and identify nearby ships.