HOLIDAYMAKERS will soon get the chance to be ferried between terminals in the world’s first driverless bus at a UK airport.
The eight-seater auto shuttle will undergo a trial at Teeside International Airport from October.
The new vehicle comes complete with a sleek, futuristic look
A £1 million deal between the airport and Aurrigo International Plc will see the bus ferry passengers between terminals, while an Auto-Dolly Tug – designed to ferry cargo instead of passengers – will be trialled in January.
Managing Director at Teesside International Airport, Phil Forster, said the technology would make moving bags from check-in to planes seamless.
But Aurrigo’s Auto-Shuttle will be tested before it carries any passengers across the tarmac.
It’s hoped that, if successful, the new vehicles will transform the way passengers are moved around the airport.
And they could be shuttling passengers to their flights as early as 2026.
Tees Valley Mayor, Ben Houchen, told the BBC : “These vehicles arriving in just a couple of months’ time are a huge boost and I’m excited to see them serving holidaymakers on our year-round flights in the New Year.”
The futuristic vehicles come to the airport after plans were announced earlier this year to invest £2 million to build a facility that would construct and test trackless trams.
The Tees Valley Combined Authority hopes the facility would allow driverless vehicles to be put to work in town centres by the end of 2027.
He went on to say that the tech will likely have an impact on the whole aviation industry.
Aurrigo has deployed its driverless vehicles across the world before but has never trialled them at a live airport.
The firm’s test will mark a world first as the driverless buses take to the tarmac.
Driverless buses have previously been used in Scotland but never deployed to an airport before.
The new technology allows for operating costs to be reduced with no need to pay drivers.
Driverless vehicles are still relatively new and untested technology and are yet to be rolled out nationwide.
Top 15 busiest airports in the UK
Here are the 15 busiest airports in the UK by passenger numbers in 2023
- London Heathrow – 79.2 million
- London Gatwick – 40.9 million
- Manchester – 28.1 million
- London Stansted – 28.0 million
- London Luton – 16.4 million
- Edinburgh – 14.4 million
- Birmingham – 11.5 million
- Bristol – 9.9 million
- Glasgow – 7.4 million
- Belfast International – 6.0 million
- Newcastle – 4.8 million
- Liverpool – 4.2 million
- Leeds Bradford – 4.0 million
- East Midlands – 3.9 million
- London City – 3.4 million
