SELF-DRIVING LEISURE BOATS

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Autonomous driving has now spread to ships as well. There are even self-driving leisure boats that can find optimal routes and move to their destinations on their own.

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This leisure boat can accommodate ten passengers. When the points of departure and arrival are entered, the best route is selected automatically.

[Soundbite] "Press the Play button. The boat will depart."

As the button is pushed the boat starts moving through the waves. Although there is no human driver, the speed is over 9 km/hour. When another boat approaches, this self-driving vessel reduces speed and steers away from it. Then it returns to its original route and continues its voyage. Twenty minutes into the ride, autonomous berthing is turned on and the boat berths easily. This boat navigates using AI, which analyzes GPS and surrounding data with the help of a satellite and a special camera.

[Soundbite] Lim Do-hyeong(HD Hyundai Avikus) : "Several European countries have technologies similar to ours. We were the first to commercialize stage 1 and 2 and we're trying to commercialize stage 3 as soon as possible."

The global autonomous ship market is predicted to reach 200 billion dollars in the near future. Many industrialized nations are already competing to produce self-driving boats. Securing technology to maintain the status of a shipbuilding superpower is essential for Korea.

[Soundbite] Prof. Kim Se-won(Sejong Univ.) : "As the logistics system switches to an autonomous mode, Korea needs to secure autonomous driving technologies to keep its shipbuilding sector competitive."

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy plans to invest 160 billion won by 2025 to develop autonomous ship technologies.