Driverless Airport Shuttle Tested in New Zealand

New Zealand’s first trial of a fully autonomous electric vehicle is under way at Christchurch International Airport.

HMI Technologies is using French company Navya’s 15-person Arma shuttle for the 2-year trial. The self-driving electric vehicle has no steering wheel.

Testing will be conducted on airport grounds, starting on private roads with no public access, with the long-term aim of moving to public roads once safety issues have been assessed and all regulatory approvals are in place.

The Christchurch region has been hit by a series of earthquakes in recent years. The biggest, in 2011, killed 185 people, but the airport was not damaged.

Airport communications manager Yvonne Densem says the facility has withstood more than 14,000 earthquakes and aftershocks.

“We have installed accelerometers onsite, so we can measure exactly what is happening to the ground onsite, rather than rely on the more general Richter scale,” she tells WardsAuto.

HMI has taken the earthquake threat into account.

Dave Verma, the company’s director of Australasian driverless vehicle technologies, says the Arma has a range of sensors that constantly detect the environment around it.

“In the event the accelerometers on the vehicle detect an abnormal or unusual movement, the vehicle will stop,” he tells WardsAuto. “However, a minor tremor is unlikely to have any effect on the operation of the vehicle.

“If debris is detected, any sizeable obstacles or uneven surfaces caused by an earthquake, or something else out of the ordinary, then the vehicle will stop immediately.”

Michael Singleton, the airport’s general manager-corporate affairs, says the airport’s interest in the trial centers on plans for linking key areas around the facility.

“We hope to eventually see autonomous vehicles operating in and around the airport,” Singleton says in a statement. “Before that could happen, we want to understand the infrastructure and operating requirements for these vehicles, to understand the human/technology interface and to build the safety case for autonomous vehicles on our campus.”

Former Secretary for Transport Martin Matthews, who is overseeing the trial, says many people believe it will be years before autonomous vehicles are seen on New Zealand roads.

“I disagree,” he says. “I believe they will be with us very soon, so it’s important we understand what is required for them to operate safely here.”

Verma says the planned research and development is expected to take one to two years.

“Autonomous vehicles are a disruptive technology which may require an equally disruptive business model,” he says. “We do not necessarily see a ‘user-pays’ ride model as being the only operational application for this type of transportation and we will be investigating other commercial models as part of our research.”