Over the past months Schiphol and KLM have been testing the potential of an autonomous baggage tug at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, in close collaboration with supplier Aurrigo. The first phase of this testing period lasted from august 2024 till februari 2025. During this phase, the vehicle has been further developed and improved to better handle the highly complex operational environment at the airport. In order to support the process of hotcold separation (further elaborated on in our previous article), various routes have been defined. There routes were the basis for the first phase of the proof of concept, which has now been rounded off successfully.
First phase During the first phase of this proof of concept we have explored various routes around the airport. To facilitate the process of hot-cold separation, the autonomous vehicle starts at the apron, where it will pick up a pre-batched container filled with ‘cold’ baggage. This route goes to an external ‘buffer’, where we will temporarily store the container with baggage. After a set time, the vehicle will pick up the container with baggage from the buffer and bring it to the baggage handling area, where the container will be unloaded and the baggage is inserted into the baggage handling system. The first phase of the project consisted of autonomously navigating the majority of these routes, where both outside driving (on the perimeter roads) and inside driving (in the baggage halls) was in scope. After several months of iterative development cycles, we have been able to sign off on this first phase. We have validated that the vehicle is able to handle the predefined routes with sufficient confidence, and we believe we can develop the vehicle further towards fully autonomous driving without the need for interventions.
Stepping into the second phase of the project, we will improve the quality of the routes even further, focusing on making the driving smoother while increasing the speed. Furthermore we will expand the capabilities of the vehicle by also testing the docking and interfacing with the infrastructure of the baggage halls. Autonomously docking, a movement where the vehicle will dock towards for example a roller deck or a dolly, allows the vehicle to interface without the need for human intervention. The Aurrigo Autodolly Tug can move in all directions, allowing the vehicle to approach a roller deck by driving sideways, which minimizes the amount of space needed. This is especially useful in a tight baggage handling area. The interfacing itself, meaning the handling of a container onto a roller deck or from a roller deck onto the vehicle, will also happen fully autonomously. This requires the vehicle to detect the container, extending the tailormade ‘arms’ past the container and grabbing it from the end. By doing so, there is no need for human intervention, significantly bringing down the physical strain on the baggage handlers.
We will be testing the Aurrigo vehicle, together with KLM, till the end of this year. In that time we will further develop the vehicle and validate our hypotheses, with as end goal a vehicle that is able to autonomously navigate specific routes around the perimeter roads, the baggage halls and on the apron itself. Jan Zekveld, Head of Innovation at Royal Schiphol Group: 'We aim to operate one of the world's most sustainable and pioneering airports by 2050. That's why we're committed to creating a more sustainable, zero-emission ground operation. We're replacing the vehicle fleet with a connected network of autonomous, emission-free vehicles. In doing so, we are automating all related processes. Employees will continue to play an important role in an autonomous ground operation. The work will be more varied and more directive.'