London
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If you ever end up in Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, Changi in Singapore, or Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, you would possibly spot some uncommon, futuristic-looking vehicles — totally electrical, self-driving, and designed to assist transfer baggage and folks round.
The three airports are amongst these the place British firm Aurrigo, a pioneer in autonomous vehicles for airports, is testing its merchandise.
After delivering a prototype to British Airways in 2019, Aurrigo deployed the primary of its autonomous floor vehicles, the Auto-DollyTug, to Changi Airport in 2022.
The Auto-DollyTug — which has a security driver on board — can autonomously choose up a container and transport it instantly to the plane. It can go backward, ahead and sideways, or rotate 360 levels on the spot, a useful function in congested airports the place different vehicles are transporting gas, water, catering and folks.
“We are the first globally to have a vehicle and tech that can operate from the baggage hall right up to the aircraft side, to unload and load containers automatically,” mentioned David Keene, CEO of Aurrigo, who’s additionally a visiting professor at Coventry University, specializing in autonomous vehicles. He based the corporate greater than 30 years in the past as an automotive elements provider, earlier than growing an curiosity in automation.
The automotive enterprise continues — supplying digital programs and have growth for the likes of Jaguar Land Rover, Aston Martin, Bentley and Rolls Royce, Keene mentioned. But the main target of Aurrigo is now aviation, notably the airside, or the realm of an airport past the safety checkpoints, the place planes are loaded and unloaded.
“There is a big hole in the market,” Keene says in regards to the comparatively gradual adoption of autonomous applied sciences in aviation, “and there’s going to be a transformation, globally, in the way we move baggage and cargo around an airport and, in the future, in how we might move jet bridges (passenger bridges), stairs, catering wagons — everything’s got the opportunity to be automated.”
A change to self-driving, electrical floor vehicles would be a major change for many airports, the place present fleets principally run on diesel gas. “Electrification in airports is not as easy as it first sounds,” mentioned Keene. “Not only do you need to swap the diesel vehicles for electric ones, but you need to be able to charge them, and you might not have enough capacity in the grid to support that.”
Then there may be the issue of rules, as no customary exists for bringing an automated automobile into an airport. “We have to work with each airport and the local authority, and by doing that, we can come to a consensus as to what’s the safest way to implement those vehicles,” Keene mentioned.
That’s one of many the reason why Aurrigo nonetheless features a driver’s seat and a steering wheel.
Earlier this yr, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) launched guidance on what it calls “autonomous ground vehicle systems” (AGVS), saying that it “enthusiastically welcomes innovative implementation of this new entrant technology, but above all, must ensure that it is integrated safely into active airport environments.”
Part of the steerage mandates that autonomous vehicles in US airports can solely be used for testing and in “non-movement areas,” which suggests away from the place plane are loaded and unloaded.
The improvements making aviation greener
Keene believes that there’s a sturdy enterprise case for autonomy, which could ultimately be the motive force of a regulation breakthrough. “The amount of passenger and cargo operations that airports and airlines are experiencing right now is past pre-Covid levels,” he mentioned. “There is growth in the industry, but not enough people to service it. Automation can top up and help the people that are already there. We’re not making anybody redundant — we’re supplementing. We can move people, or we can move baggage, or we can move cargo around without using as many people as would be required today, to enable that extra staff to be redeployed elsewhere.”
A change from a standard diesel fleet to electrical, autonomous vehicles could minimize carbon emissions by up to 60%, in accordance to Keene, however would additionally deliver one other benefit: fewer accidents. As airports grow to be busier, extra vehicles are wanted to have a tendency to plane, and floor injury — cases the place vehicles hit one another or collide with plane — is a major drawback. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) estimated that the worldwide value of those accidents could attain $10 billion a yr by 2035.
Keene mentioned that thus far, no Aurrigo vehicles have been concerned in accidents, and that when they’re being examined at an airport, any intervention of the human driver should be reported. He added that the variety of reported interventions has been “very, very low.”
Aurrigo, which at present has round 120 workers, has two different forms of vehicles within the testing section, the Auto-Cargo — a supersized model of Auto-DollyTug, for cargo operations, which the corporate says has attracted curiosity from UPS — and the Auto-Shuttle, a 10-seat automobile for shifting crew to an plane or passengers between terminals.
“We believe that with partners like Aurrigo we are gearing towards an airport with self-driving vehicles at the heart of its operations,” Jan Zekveld, the pinnacle of innovation at Royal Schiphol Group, which manages Schiphol Airport, informed NCS. “Autonomous technology will help us shape safer, cleaner and more resilient airport operations and we’re very keen to explore how to build towards this envisioned future.”
Earlier this yr, Aurrigo introduced an agreement with Swissport, which manages greater than 270 airports worldwide, to take a look at its vehicles and programs. The firm can be deploying its Auto-Shuttle and Auto-DollyTug programs at Teesside Airport, a small worldwide airport in Northern England. For now, none of Aurrigo’s vehicles function on industrial flights. Keene believes the primary industrial deployment could occur as early as 2026.
Autonomous programs in airports are on the rise and trial packages are popping up throughout the globe. Beginning in 2024, KLM tested small autonomous busses by New Zealand firm Ohmio at Schiphol Airport. At Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar, autonomous vehicles together with a bus and a baggage tractor from Chinese producer UISEE have been in tests since February. In July, autonomy firm EasyMile rolled out a fleet of six electrical baggage tractors at Dubai’s Al Maktoum International Airport.
According to Piotr Grobelny, an aviation analyst at consultancy agency IBA, rising passenger visitors and the FAA’s openness to autonomy are indicators that the sector has potential for progress. He advocates that the airport atmosphere is good for self-driving vehicles. “The regulated nature of airports, often cited as a barrier, may paradoxically offer a comparative advantage,” he mentioned in an e-mail.
“Unlike urban roads, characterized by unpredictable human behavior, airports present highly structured, monitored environments with fixed routes and known operations. This predictability may reduce scenario variability and allow (autonomous) systems, if precisely calibrated, to perform moderately reliably within tightly controlled corridors.”
Grobelny signifies preliminary outcomes from Aurrigo’s assessments throughout varied airports are encouraging, however famous that technical challenges stay, notably with inclement climate. Snow, fog and rain are identified to impair the notion programs of autonomous programs, and the applied sciences that may counteract this are nonetheless unproven.
Then there may be the difficulty of regulation. “The FAA’s safety criteria explicitly note that autonomous vehicles introduce operational complexities not initially considered in existing standards, underscoring the continuing need for rigorous evaluation and integration protocols,” he mentioned.
Aurrigo says it’s tackling weather-related challenges with software program that may differentiate between drops of rain and objects, in addition to housing crucial sensors in housings designed to shield them from heavy rain and snow.
“Baggage and cargo handling hasn’t really moved forward in the last 30 or 40 years, so we’re a bit of a disruptor,” mentioned Keene.