Aurrigo's SENTRY Project Awarded Funding for Autonomous Airport Vehicles
The UK Government's CAM Pathfinder programme has awarded funding to several projects, including Aurrigo's airside SENTRY project, which aims to develop autonomous vehicles for routine tasks at airports.
The UK Government's CAM Pathfinder programme has awarded funding to several projects aimed at supporting innovation and commercial deployment of connected and automated mobility (CAM) in the UK.
A number of projects are set to receive a share of funding as part of the programme, including an autonomous excavator, the expansion of a self-driving bus trial, and autonomous vehicles for airports, highways, and city streets.
One of the projects awarded funding is Aurrigo's airside SENTRY project, which will see the company develop autonomous vehicles for routine tasks at airports. Led by Aurrigo in partnership with WMG (Warwick Manufacturing Group) and oversight and guidance from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the project team will design, build, and test an autonomous vehicle in controlled environments before trialling it in real airport conditions at Teesside Airport.
The SENTRY project aims to investigate whether routine tasks such as security patrols, perimeter inspections, and bird counting can be done by small autonomous vehicles that will navigate on their own, following a set of rules agreed in advance with air traffic control.
Simon Brewerton, Chief Technology Officer at Aurrigo International plc, said that airports are busier and more hazardous than most passengers ever realise, with staff spending their days walking and driving around parked aircraft, along taxiways, and up and down runways, checking for loose debris, chasing away birds, patrolling for security, and inspecting the roadways for damage.
The CAM Pathfinder programme is part of the UK Government's Industrial Strategy Advanced Manufacturing Sector Plan, which aims to grow the UK's 3.7 billion GBP Connected and Automated Mobility (CAM) industry. The programme is delivered by the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (BIST) in partnership with Zenzic and Innovate UK.
The following projects have been funded by the programme:
| Project Name | Project Description |
|---|---|
| Highly Automated Excavators for Autonomous Earthmoving | Trial of a first-of-its-kind, fully autonomous earthmoving system installed across six excavators, enabling autonomous trenching, bulk excavation, and truck loading |
| Commercialising Connector | Progression of the technology and vehicles utilised by the connector project from level three autonomy to level four |
| Dynamic Braking for Autonomous Vehicles (D-BrAVe) | Delivery of a commercially scalable, fail-operational Brake-By-Wire (BBW) system with Anti-Lock Braking (ABS) and provisional Electronic Stability Control (ESC) specifically designed for No-User-In-Charge (NUIC) Level-4 autonomous vehicles |
| Airside Sentry | Design, build, and testing of an autonomous vehicle in controlled environments before trialling it in real airport conditions at Teesside Airport |
| Accelerating the Development of L4 Autonomous Vehicles with Photorealistic Simulation at Scale | Strengthening UK Autonomous Vehicle competitiveness by advancing tools and methods that support commercial deployment of Level 4 AVs |
| Automated Highway Maintenance Vehicles Phase 2 | Development and trial of an Automated Impact Protection Vehicle (AIPV) and Automated Winter Gritter (AGritter) equipped with automated driving, crash-attenuation systems, specialist highway maintenance functionality, and integrated spreading control systems |
| DRIVEN BY SOUND+ | Exploration and development of an all-weather perception subsystem for reliable automated driving across environments |
| ADventure | Development of a city-ready autonomous mobility service model enabling safe commercial deployment in urban environments |
| 5D RADAR PERCEPTION FOR INTELLIGENT DRIVING (5D RAPID) | Development of advanced 5D radar technology for safer automated driving, enabling cost-effective vehicle perception, and strengthening the UK CAM supply chain |
Source: Airport Industry-News