Fraport AG Ground Services is testing an autonomous baggage and cargo tractor for its operations until the end of March 2023 as the company looks to ‘emphasize its role as a future-focused company.’
The aim of the trial, which will take several weeks, is to determine whether and under what conditions an autonomous vehicle can support regular baggage and cargo operations on the apron.
The electric vehicle will operate on an 8-km-long test route within Frankfurt Airport’s secure area. During the test operations, the vehicle will operate at a maximum speed of 13 kilometers per hour and will tow a maximum of three baggage trailers or two large cargo trailers, with trained and certified safety personnel on each test drive.
To ensure the outcome reflects real-life conditions with sufficient complexity, the test drives will take place both during the day and at night, in different types of weather. Fraport said autonomous vehicles could provide significant support in daily ground-handling operations, which saw employees having to cover long distances given the size of the apron.
“We’ve already trialed self-driving vehicles in some areas. But deployment on the apron on such a long route is a completely new dimension. Safety will be the top priority during the trial,” said Eric Agthe, project manager for process and product development at Fraport.
The electric tractor trial is one of numerous projects that Fraport is doing to tackle climate change. In a recent move, the airport operator said it will limit its CO2 emissions to 50,000 tonnes by 2030 at its Frankfurt homebase, an even more ambitious target from its original 70,000-tonne proposal.
The airport said it has managed to lower its CO2 emissions at Frankfurt Airport by 50 percent since 1990 when climate agreements were first set. The group’s plan is to be carbon-free at all its fully consolidated airports by 2045. Fraport’s CEO, Dr. Stefan Schulte, was clear: “zero carbon means we will achieve this target without offsetting our emissions. We’re not going to rely on compensatory measures and their impact in the distant future. We’re taking the direct route.”
