Gatwick has said the trial could be first step toward widespread use of autonomous vehicles on airfields across the world and could reduce vehicle numbers, emissions and costs.
The trial will be run in partnership with Oxbotica – a company that develops software that enables vehicles to run autonomously without reliance on GPS or any other technology outside the vehicle. XL Catlin – a global insurance company – is also interested in being part of trial to learn more on autonomous airfield vehicles from an insurance perspective.
If this trial proves successful then in the future we could have an Uber-like service operating across the airfield which staff can hail as and when they need to travel.
Gatwick first in the world to trail autonomous shuttle bus for airside staff