Brussels Airport tests another self-driving shuttle on tarmac

Brussels Airport has started another pilot project with a self-driving shuttle bus. The van will transport employees on the airport’s tarmac for three months.

The pilot project is part of the European Commission’s Stargate program, which aims to make aviation more sustainable. The shuttle itself was developed by New Zealand company Ohmio.

Fixed route of 1.5 km

In 2015, Brussels Airport and Flemish public transport operator De Lijn already planned to run an autonomous shuttle. That self-driving shuttle from Dutch constructor 2GetThere would transport people between the passenger terminal and Brucargo. A prototype was proposed, but eventually, the plans were dropped due to being ‘too complex’.

But what could not be done then can be done today because there is now the first electric, self-driving shuttle bus on the tarmac in Zaventem. The airport uses the shuttle to transport employees who need to get from one location to another. The vehicle covers a fixed route of 1.5 km in about ten minutes and has three stops where employees can get on and off. It can reach a maximum speed of 25 km/h.

For eight persons

There is room for eight employees per trip. Each shuttle has a security steward who starts and stops the vehicle, monitors the situation, and can intervene if necessary. The shuttle scans the surroundings with six cameras and sensors for surrounding traffic and any obstacles.

The vehicle will drive 48 times in total a day. Thus, a few hundred employees could be helped daily, whereas today, they often journey on foot.

More to follow?

“The shuttle bus is completely safe,” says Jeffrey Franssens, spokesperson for Brussels Airport. “We carried out a thorough safety analysis beforehand. We mapped where the crucial points are on the tarmac and mapped out a route on that basis.”

After the pilot project, which is part of the airport’s strategy for more sustainable mobility, a review will be carried out to see how employees experienced the vans and whether and in what ways autonomous vehicles could be deployed at the airport.

The aim would be to have several shuttles driving around in the future, controlled remotely by one person. This would be possible thanks to the airport’s optimal 5G network. It should also make it more cost-effective than it currently is.

Apart from Brussels, New Zealand company Ohmio also has projects underway at JFK Airport, with Luxembourg’s state railway company CFL, as well as in Australia, China, and South Korea.