Major carmakers are advancing self-driving technology at a fast pace. Still, many people are reluctant to vehicles that drive by themselves. We’ll see if these new driverless vehicles will spark a fierce debate on the “robots are stealing our jobs!” subject. Or they’ll fall fall in the “simply useful tools” category.
Every time I travel by plane, I am amused seeing those little trains carrying luggage to the plane. I don’t know why, but it seems like the drivers are having fun behind the wheel of those little four-wheeled ants towing little trailers.
It turns out I was wrong because driving those little baggage vehicles is not fun. It’s simply a job, and it’s a boring job. No one would mind if those things would drive by themselves. At least this is what I suppose the guys from Aurrigo were thinking when they developed Auto-Dolly.
Aurrigo is a British tech company that presents itself as a player focused on delivering autonomous vehicle technology for inner city applications, automotive, and aviation. In 2021, they launched this “unique and disruptive baggage transportation solution for airports,” nicknamed Dolly.
A Zoox is much more interesting, but Auto-Dolly is not a people carrier. It’s a luggage carrier and it’s meant to be useful, not pretty. Also, it was designed so that it can be manufactured anywhere in the world, using existing automotive and aviation parts.
Photo: Aurrigo
Well, it’s not quite a real vehicle. It’s more of a fancy platform, fitted with an electric motor, a LIDAR system, and multiple sensor technologies, so that it can move by itself. It’s meant to replace the trailers towed by that little ant I was talking about earlier.
But wait, did you know that today these little tractor-ants are mostly diesel-powered? The guys at Aurrigo thought “How about replacing them with electric-powered self-driving luggage tractors?” And they created Auto-DollyTug.
While it’s a self-driving vehicle, it can also be operated in manual mode by a driver. Auto-DollyTug was designed to tow up to three Auto-Dolly platforms, with a total weight of 7.5 tons. Moreover, it can also carry 1.5 tons on its platform, so luggage operations are more efficient.
These two self-driving vehicles started operation a year ago in a trial test in one of the busiest airports in Asia – Changi Airport, in Singapore. As this is one of the most high-tech countries in the world, you might not be surprised about this trial happening there.
But the main reason for the airport’s management to choose Auto-Dolly and Auto-DollyTug might surprise you. After the pandemic, there is a manpower shortage in airports. Especially in this sector, where working in the airside requires staff to be in outdoor conditions, in shifts.
Remember I told you transporting luggage from the terminal to the airplane is not fun? Well, if no one wants these jobs, let’s give them to robots. This February, the two self-driving vehicles completed Phase 1 of the trial test and the results are encouraging.
Photo: Changi Airport
Auto-Dolly demonstrated the ability to move autonomously along airside roadways, as well as within the baggage handling area. A fleet of Audo-Dollies would eliminate the need for baggage tractors and would increase the efficiency of transferring the luggage to the plane.
Phase 2 of the trial is going to test how safely Auto-Dollies will be able to operate at the aircraft stand. They can transfer a unit-load device directly to and from the loading platform, thanks to their automated mechanical arms.
It's worth mentioning that Changi Airport is the first in the world to test autonomous equipment for loading and unloading unit load devices at the aircraft stand. You can say goodbye to those guys carelessly throwing your luggage on the platform!
It's important to note that in Phase 1, both Auto-Dollies had a human operator as a safeguard. The presence of a real person was necessary to step in to take control in the event of a hazardous situation. The test showed that sensors correctly identified the circumstances when they had to stop to allow people or other vehicles to pass.
In the next steps, the Auto-Dolly and Auto-DollyTug will be tested in real-life operations without safety operators onboard. This is going to be the most important part of the trial, and if all goes well, we could witness the deployment of such autonomous vehicles in airports sooner than many expect.
Both Aurrigo and Changi Airport’s officials are prepared to use observations from Auto-Dollies trials for automating other airport operations. For instance, vehicles that move planes in position or mobile escalators for onboarding and disembarking passengers are serious contenders for future autonomous operations.
So, next time you’ll fly to Singapore, don’t be surprised if you’ll see more Auto-Dollies at work, without human operators. We bet that, by the end of this decade, this kind of electric workhorse self-driving vehicle will become popular in major airports around the world.
After graduating college with an automotive degree, Oraan went for a journalism career. 15 years went by and another switch turned him from a petrolhead into an electrohead, so watch his profile for insight into green tech, EVs of all kinds and alternative propulsion systems. Full profile
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