Hyundai Motor (005380) and HD Hyundai (267250) are elevating their mobility technology cooperation spanning automobiles, shipbuilding and shipping to the level of an alliance. Euisun Chung, chairman of Hyundai Motor Group, and Chung Ki-sun, chairman of HD Hyundai Group, are cousins, and both have been expanding joint initiatives to strengthen their respective automotive and shipbuilding businesses. Hyundai Glovis (086280), the first company in the world to deploy a vessel capable of carrying more than 10,000 vehicles in a single voyage, has adopted HD Hyundai's artificial intelligence-based autonomous navigation technology — a business Chung Ki-sun has been building up intensively — improving its own operating efficiency while giving a boost to an HD Hyundai affiliate.
Avikus, HD Hyundai's autonomous navigation unit, will supply its HiNAS Control autonomous navigation solution and SVM integrated monitoring system for 10 newly built pure car and truck carriers (PCTCs) with capacity for 10,800 car equivalent units (CEU) that Hyundai Glovis is introducing, according to shipping industry sources on the 12th.
HiNAS Control uses AI to analyze real-time navigation data and sensor information, recommending optimal routes and supporting collision avoidance and navigational decision-making. SVM provides an integrated view of conditions around the vessel, improving crew situational awareness during port entry and departure or when sailing through narrow waterways.
Hyundai Motor Group expects the partnership with HD Hyundai to improve the efficiency of vehicle transport and advance its navigation technology. In April this year, Hyundai Glovis put into service the Glovis Leader, a PCTC that can carry up to 10,800 passenger vehicles at once.
It was the world's first vessel with capacity for more than 10,000 vehicles, and Avikus' autonomous navigation system will be installed first on these 10 ships. Hyundai Glovis plans to replace aging vessels with mega carriers to raise its annual vehicle transport volume to 5 million by 2030, while using AI route analysis to improve fuel efficiency and safety.
Founded in 2020 as an HD Hyundai subsidiary, Avikus has been singled out as a next-generation growth engine and nurtured since Chung Ki-sun stepped to the forefront of management. In 2024, Hyundai Glovis and Avikus applied HiNAS Control to one demonstration vessel on a trial basis, accumulating actual voyage data and confirming fuel savings.
Last year the two companies tested the AI autonomous navigation solution on seven vessels already in service, and have now signed a supply contract covering 10 large newbuilds, agreeing to jointly develop the autonomous vessel market. "Through the demonstration project and application to vessels already in service, we confirmed that HiNAS improves safety and operating efficiency," said Kim Jung-seok, executive vice president and head of Hyundai Glovis' shipping business division. "By applying the autonomous navigation system to newbuilds, we will accelerate the company's digital transformation and eco-friendly navigation strategy."
Having built a contract record extending from demonstration to in-service vessels and newbuilds, Avikus is positioned to speed up commercialization of AI autonomous navigation. Hyundai Glovis ranks fourth among global car-carrier shipping companies. "Expanding the scope of application from demonstration to vessels already in service and then to newbuilds is an achievement that demonstrates HiNAS' real value," said Avikus CEO Kang Jae-ho. "With AI-based autonomous navigation technology, we will improve vessel safety and efficiency and lead innovation in the shipping industry."
Cooperation between Hyundai Motor Group and HD Hyundai is also expanding into the development of small modular reactor (SMR) vessels. HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (329180), working with Hyundai Glovis and others, carried out concept design for a PCTC powered by a molten salt reactor (MSR) and received approval in principle (AiP) from Lloyd's Register of the U.K. in June this year. The companies joined hands from the earliest design stage toward commercializing SMR-based vessels.
Hyundai Glovis has since taken up the baton, agreeing with U.S. logistics company Liberty Global Logistics (LGL) to jointly review operation of SMR-propelled vessels on routes between Korea and the United States. "The two groups, centered on automobiles and shipbuilding, have a clear point of contact in mobility, or means of transport," an industry official said. "They will be able to expand cooperation based on mutual understanding of and trust in each other's technology."