Avikus Co., Ltd.

Avikus Co., Ltd. is the maritime autonomous navigation company of HD Hyundai (formerly Hyundai Heavy Industries Group). It was launched in December 2020 as an in-house venture of the HHI Group and now operates from a headquarters in Seoul, with an office in Busan and a US presence in Florida run as Avikus USA.

The company's main product family is HiNAS (Hyundai intelligent Navigation Assistant System), which fuses radar, AIS and electro-optical and infrared camera data with AI to assist bridge crews on merchant vessels. The family has four modules. HiNAS Navigation provides a sensor-fused augmented-reality view for detecting obstacles, including at night and in low light. HiNAS Control is a Level 2 autonomous system that controls heading and engine RPM, performs collision avoidance and optimises routes and speed for fuel use. HiNAS SVM (Surround View Monitoring) gives a 360-degree bird's-eye view for berthing and is installed on newbuilds or during dry-docking. HiNAS Cloud provides fleet management, real-time remote monitoring and incident playback. Avikus states that retrofits can be installed in about three days at any port without dry-docking, and positions its systems as crew assistance rather than crew replacement.

Avikus reports more than 700 HiNAS orders, including over 300 HD Hyundai newbuilds and over 100 retrofits, and more than 188,000 nautical miles of piloted operation. It cites average fuel savings of 4.2% (3% to 8% range), with up to 5.4% on pure car and truck carriers and 5.2% on very large ore carriers, using an ABS-verified methodology. HiNAS Control has been undergoing DNV System Qualification under DNV-CG-0264.

In May-June 2022 the LNG carrier Prism Courage, owned by SK Shipping, sailed a 33-day, roughly 20,000 km voyage from Freeport on the US Gulf coast through the Panama Canal to the Boryeong LNG terminal in Korea, with about half of the route sailed under HiNAS 2.0 control. The voyage was monitored by the Korean Register and reported about 7% better fuel efficiency and 5% lower greenhouse gas emissions.

Named customers and partners in the company's news include HMM (a January 2026 contract to equip 40 vessels), Seaspan (fleet-wide deployment completed in July 2025), Hyundai Glovis, KMTC, CIDO Shipping (PCTC fleet), ALMI Tankers (VLCC fleet), H-Line Shipping and SK telink (Starlink-based connectivity). For the recreational market, Avikus sells the NEUBOAT line (NEUBOAT Dock, Navi and Control) for autonomous docking and navigation of leisure boats, marketed through avikus.us.