Heathrow airport completes UK’s first autonomous airside vehicle trial
London’s Heathrow airport has announced that it has completed the first trials of an autonomous airside vehicle.
As part of ongoing investment into future technologies the airport worked with cargo handling specialist IAG Cargo and UK firm Oxbotica, a specialist in software that enables vehicles to run autonomously without reliance on GPS or any other technology outside the vehicle.
Over the course of the three and half week-long trial, the group ran Oxbotica’s specially designed autonomous “CargoPod” vehicle, along a cargo route around the airside perimeter. The trial collected over 200km of data that will enable IAG and Heathrow to assess potential opportunities for the use of autonomous vehicles in airport environments of the future.
The news follows a recent announcement that London’s Gatwick airport will play host to the world’s first large-scale trial of autonomous airfield vehicles.
In this larger scale trial, which is also being run in partnership with Oxbotica, a fleet of autonomous electric vehicles will be used to shuttle staff around the airside areas of the airport.
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