Autonomous Water Taxis Planned for Busan
Avikus, HD Hyundai's autonomous navigation in-house startup, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Busan City, South Korea, and Korea Marine Consulting and Project Management Company (KMCP Co., Ltd.) for the development of an eco-friendly autonomous maritime tourism taxi service.
Avikus will supply specialized self-navigating solutions for water taxis, while KMCP will provide an eco-friendly maritime taxi platform and assume the role of operating the water taxi service. Busan City will offer administrative support necessary for the operation of the maritime taxi service, as well as promotional activities.
Since 2021, Busan City has been preparing for an eco-friendly water taxi service in collaboration with KMCP, a domestic eco-friendly leisure boat manufacturer. Starting from 2025, Busan Metropolitan City plans to operate four six-seater maritime taxis in a 14km section around Yeongdo, the downtown area.
Avikus has successfully commercialized their autonomous navigation solution for cargo ships, called HiNAS, and begun to roll out their leisure boat solution, called NeuBoat. The upcoming water taxi project will feature Avikus' NeuBoat NAVI and NeuBoat DOCK. NeuBoat NAVI offers functions such as safe route setting, autonomous navigation, obstacle detection and avoidance control, and obstacle approach alerts for water taxi operations. NeuBoat DOCK is designed to provide 3D Surround View Monitoring capabilities.
"NeuBoat utilizes artificial intelligence technology to provide real-time guidance for water taxis, optimizing their routes and automatically avoiding obstacles, thus significantly enhancing the safety and convenience of the water taxi service,” said Lim Do-hyeong, CEO of Avikus. “Through continuous collaboration with Busan City, we aim to verify the safety and viability of autonomous water taxis and expand their presence.”
Avikus plans to commence commercialization of NeuBoat, starting with major boat shows in the US and Europe in the second half of this year.