The Royal Schiphol Group, the parent company of Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, is to trial electric autonomous airside buses to enhance sustainable ground-handling operations.
Two autonomous shuttles created by Ohmio, an autonomous vehicle developer, have been programmed to follow a fixed route and make stops at airside cleaning and ground-handling companies to transport employees to different locations on the apron. They are capable of transporting eight people at a time.
Schiphol is investigating its ground-handling employees’ user experiences with the self-driving shuttles. Of the employees who have already used the shuttles, 89% reported being willing to use them again. The initial results show that the transport service is seen as safe and many employees have had a positive experience.
The technology trials and investigation into the feasibility of expanding the autonomous shuttle fleet will continue until the end of April.
Royal Schiphol Group envisages that by 2050 all its ground operation vehicles will be replaced by autonomous, zero-emission vehicles.
