A lesson in the autonomous at Aurrigo International

By the sounds of things, back end operations at airports around the world have needed a revamp for some time, as baggage handling systems rarely get updated. Aurrigo, which takes its name from the Latin word for chariot, has tapped into that need and has consequently seen huge growth in recent years. David did mention the very successful European trials of autonomous passenger shuttles, which have also made their way to the city of Sunderland, as reported on The Manufacturer website recently.

The focus for Aurrigo in the short-term, however, is in aviation, because that’s where these ingenious vehicles are having the greatest impact. In part due to the fact that UK roads and infrastructure are still a fair way from being able to fully accommodate driverless vehicles. It’s a matter of infrastructure, as we were told by Miles Garner, Sales and Marketing Director: “Being able to walk into a car dealership and buy a fully autonomous car is something I don’t think we’ll see for another ten years at least.”

“That’s because it’s so hard to integrate technology into the road. To do it, you’d have to take everyone off the road overnight, and the following day everyone would need to be in an autonomous, connected vehicle. That’s not going to happen because the integration will need to be gradual.”

He continued: “The back end of aviation support is completely different; it’s very low speed, controlled and generally a lot easier to implement.” So, that’s why, as you’re about to read, Aurrigo is targeting what it sees as the sweet spot of aviation support.

Manufacturing at Aurrigo

“The main products that we’re manufacturing are for baggage and cargo operations at airports,” said David. “We have two vehicles, one is called Auto Dolly, the other is called Auto Dolly Tug, the difference being that one includes a cab, so it can be driven manually if so desired by the end user.

Autonomous vehicles are replacing the outdated vehicles that have dominated aviation support for the last 50 years or so

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These vehicles are probably the most advanced in the world for operations at airports.” They don’t need an operator, which gives the end user ultimate flexibility. They’ll go into a baggage hall, load the cargo container, which is called a ULD (Unit Load Device) they’ll then pick that up, load that onto the body, drive out of the baggage hall, along the roadway to the gate where the aircraft is waiting. They can then automatically work out where all the equipment is, align themselves automatically and offload the ULD. This provides an airport or an air carrier complete end to end operation for their baggage with limited human input into the whole process.

How does the technology work?

Each unit has got a map contained within the vehicle itself. This includes all the routes that the vehicle is allowed to operate. When allocated a job, each vehicle follows the map using LiDAR, stereo colour cameras and a whole raft of other sensors to enable it to know where it is on that route at any given time.

If an issue arises, the vehicle will identify it and take the appropriate action – that could include a stop, decrease in speed or a lane change to go around an obstacle – all operating on Aurrigo’s Automated Driving Software, ADS. Both the vehicle control system and the software that runs multiple fleets is all designed and developed at Aurrigo headquarters in Coventry

Trends in the aviation sector

“We’ve all seen that aircraft have got bigger, better and more luxurious,” David added. “The standard of traveling in general has vastly improved and if you go to an airport, everything is modern and up to date.

” However, he added that in the back operations, where luggage and cargo is being moved around, operational procedures and the vehicles used, haven’t changed a great deal over the last 40 or 50 years. In most cases, both the diesel tugs and dollies are still manually operated. Those vehicles are going through electrification, which obviously brings environmental benefits.

“As soon as we’ve gone through electrification, we’ll be very quickly into automation,” David added. “We’ve spotted those trends, and we’ve designed our vehicles so that you can buy them today as a manually driven electric tug. If you wanted to, you could simply upgrade those to autonomous versions in a few years. Everything is moving to a higher level of automation, electrification and then autonomous operation.”

Technology on trial

Aurrigo’s leading customer is Changi Airport in Singapore, which the company has been working with since late 2019. “We deployed our first test vehicles in February of 2022,” David added. “And, in September last year, we shipped our latest mark three vehicle. Off the back of the work we’ve done at Changi, and after being so successful in demonstrating vehicles in the live environment, we’ve gone on to win contracts with International Airlines Group.” This win includes a leading airport in the UK, and CVG – Cincinnati airport in the US. Aurrigo has also announced recent contract wins for test deployments at Schiphol Airport in Holland, and Stuttgart Airport in Germany – with more to come.

Autonomy on the road

In terms of autonomous products and systems, Aurrigo is also involved with moving people around as well as luggage, with both a four and ten seater vehicle. The ten seater shuttle bus has been operating in the UK in multiple locations, and it has just completed its first European deployment in Prague.

“We moved thousands of people around in Prague, giving them a first experience of automated vehicles. The routes that we covered were between five and ten kilometres and through mixed traffic, which really tested the capability of our vehicles.

“I’m really pleased to say that we had a fantastic response, and the reception to the vehicle was enormous. We probably had the greatest level of press coverage we’ve ever had for a deployment.”

What about the competition?

In the aviation market, and with the task of moving baggage and cargo around, Aurrigo isn’t faced with that many competitors. “You could count them on the fingers of one hand, globally,” said David. “This is a great opportunity for us. We’re leading the pack and we’re a UK company, which is fantastic. All the technology is developed right here in Coventry.”

With that in mind, David believes Aurrigo will be the first to roll out commercially, which will not only usher in exciting times for the company, but for manufacturing as a whole. The vehicles are being manufactured at the Coventry site, but Aurrigo has also been expanding around the world, opening offices in Singapore, Canada and soon, off the back of the contract win in Cincinnati, a US base.

Additional applications

While the company always has expansion and diversification thoughts in mind, David confirmed that, within passenger transport, and particularly in baggage and cargo transport in aviation, there are so many opportunities globally. “Sometimes, you’ve got to concentrate on where the USP fits the business and the commerciality of it,” he added. “My mantra is never say never, and there’s no doubt that we’ve certainly got technology that could be deployed in different regions and markets, but for now, our main focus is in aviation baggage and cargo.”

Evolution and change

The company turned 30 years old last year, which gave David a chance for some reflection. “It only seems like yesterday since I set the company up; it’s been an amazing journey,” he said. “These are really exciting times for us as owners, but to also experience that with our employees on our birthday was wonderful.

The Sunderland Advanced Mobility Shuttle (SAMS) is aiming to revolutionise urban mobility

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“Over those 30 years we’ve seen a massive change in electronics and software; whether it’s the mobile phones we use or the cars that we drive – technology has improved amazingly.

“To think that 30 years ago, I thought that turning a light bulb on and off with an electronic module was really sophisticated. And here we are now, creating one of the world’s most advanced self-driving machines.”

As a tech company, the move towards digitalisation has not only impacted technical products and systems. Aurrigo tries to explore how new technology or automation can make the entire operations of the company more efficient. “We want to make the lives of our employees easier too,” David added. “We want them to be focused on doing great things. We don’t want them performing laborious tasks, so we try to automate where we can or find some way to make technology work for them. “Whether that’s in manufacturing, purchasing or accounts, we’re always open minded and looking for better ways of doing things. We want to keep our best minds working on the technological projects that we’re involved with.”

Challenges

As well as manufacturing autonomous vehicles, the company is also a tier one automotive supplier. And of course, supply chains have been a major problem within that industry due to parts shortages and lengthening lead times. However, the automotive industry is great at sourcing just in time parts from weird and wonderful places all over the world.

“I would say we’ve definitely experienced, and continue to experience, parts issues,” David added. “It’s improving but the only way that we’ve been able to cope is through the experience of our people. We’ve been operating for 31 years now, and we’ve had ups and downs, from supply chain issues, the banking crisis and COVID.

“Our experience over that length of time has enabled us to be prepared, plan better and find ways to get out of jail. Having a good contact base, and the ability to find parts when other people can’t, all comes down to experience.”

What about skills?

When questioned whether the company has been experiencing any issues with finding skills, the honest answer from David was yes. These shortages have predominantly been in some of the more technical areas in which the company operates such as software, electronics and the engineering disciplines needed to develop an autonomous vehicle such as vision engineering and mathematics.

“It’s amazing the amount of mathematics involved within the software, to perform course planning for the vehicle and obstacle avoidance,” Dave continued. “We’ve had to take a different approach and bring in the best of young people coming out of university or PhDs. We look after those people, bring them through and train them up. Because most, if not all of the people who are potentially available, are picked off by companies that are bigger than us and can pay more.”

A good example of this approach can be found in the person who heads up Aurrigo’s Singapore office. Sam Leighton is 26 and has been with the company since trainee level; he runs the entire operation in that location. “He approached us, saying he could run that office. We looked at him and thought, you know what, we think you can do it as well.”

Despite the competition from some of the larger players, this is a great example of the opportunities available for younger people at Aurrigo. David has even managed to convince friends and ex-colleagues to come out of retirement. “Some of them do two or three days a week,” he said. “But actually, because they’re so skilled, those days are probably worth more than a week. They’re so experienced.”

Sustainability and net zero

The aviation industry is on a mission to move forward, clean up its act and be more environmentally friendly, and David believes Aurrigo is making a big impact with its own products. “The systems and tech we’re developing are all electrically powered. This is not just in passenger transport, but in aviation as well. We’re one of those suppliers that are providing equipment and tech that will help them on that journey. “All the vehicles are more sustainable than before, and actually, because they’re more capable of doing the job in an efficient manner, it means that fewer vehicles are being used in the process, therefore, saving power and energy.”

Looking ahead to the future

Aurrigo’s initial strategy is to concentrate on aviation, as that’s where the big market pull for autonomous vehicles will be. David added that a major task for the company will be around scaling operations. “We need to go from relatively small scale deployments around the world to fleets of 300-500 vehicles operating seamlessly at airports,” he said. “We’ll see that in the next five years which is not too far away. But that’s the main challenge at the moment. We need to scale up the operation, and keep the back end baggage and cargo operation moving seamlessly for people like you and me as we travel around the world.”

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