Gatwick Airport To Conduct Autonomous Vehicle Study
A pilot study designed to show that autonomous vehicles can safely operate within the confines of an airfield will occur this summer at London’s Gatwick Airport, the second-largest airport in the UK. Believed to be the first of its kind, the study will initially involve electric-powered, autonomous shuttles transporting airport workers on a limited number of airside roads between the airport’s north and south terminals.
Fewer Vehicles, Fewer Emissions
Gatwick is partnering on the study with Oxbotica, an Oxford-based software company that develops software enabling vehicles to operate autonomously without the aid of GPS or other vehicle-external technologies. Oxbotica currently has vehicles participating in trials on UK roads and is developing a fleet of autonomous vehicles scheduled to operate between Oxford and London in the near future. While the tests at Gatwick won’t involve passengers or aircraft, if successful they could lead to future tests that scale to a point where a “much smaller pool of autonomous vehicles” could meet future airfield transport requirements. Such fleet reductions should also reduce emissions and save money.
Cathal Corcoran, Gatwick Airport CIO, said successful testing could result in an “Uber-like service operating across the airfield which staff can hail as and when they need to travel.” Corcoran notes that while much more research awaits, this summer’s trial could be the beginning of widespread use of autonomous vehicles on airfields globally.
Complex Environments
Located south of London, Gatwick Airport serves 228 destinations in 74 countries and transports 45 million passengers each year. The airport states that its fleet of 300 airside vehicles remain stationary about 90% of the time as workers service aircraft and passengers.
Oxbotica CEO Dr. Graeme Smith says, “Airports offer an incredibly interesting domain for our autonomous driving software. There is a huge diversity of vehicles, each with a very specific mission. 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.”
Gatwick and Oxbotica will share the data they collect this summer with the Department of Transport, Civil Aviation Authority, and other organizations. They also expect involvement from global insurance company XL Catlin, which hopes to learn more about autonomous airfield vehicles from an insurance perspective.
Source: Gatwick Airport
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