Driverless vehicles to be trialled at Gatwick Airport
A six-month trial by autonomous tech company Oxbotica will see a fleet of driverless vehicles be deployed at Gatwick Airport to transport staff across the facility, with the potential of an expansion to carrying passengers
Holidaymakers may soon be travelling across airports in autonomous buses, should an upcoming trial of driverless vehicles be successful.
Autonomous technology company Oxbotica are working in partnership with Gatwick Airport to host a six-month trial that will see staff at the facility ferried around the airfield by self-driving transport.
“The challenge of choreographing all of the activity around an individual plane, or in support of airport operations is immense and we look forward to working closely with Gatwick on this initial pilot that will demonstrate our self-driving technology carrying staff around the airfield.”
If the initial trial is successful, Oxbotica says it could expand it to include other vehicles used around the airport, such as push back tugs, passenger load bridge, baggage tugs and passenger transport buses.
The firm expects to prove that driverless vehicles can work safely and efficiently on an airfield, paving the way to introducing a small fleet of autonomous machines that will reduce the need for large vehicle fleets – cutting both emissions and running costs.
Cathal Corcoran, chief information officer for Gatwick Airport, said: “If this trial proves successful then in the future we could have an Uber-like service operating across the airfield which staff can hail as and when they need to travel.
“This trial is just the start and much more research will be needed, but ultimately this could be the start of widespread use of autonomous vehicles on airfields across the world. The new technology is a more efficient way to manage vehicles and could lead to a reduction in the number of vehicles required, their associated costs and harmful emissions.”
