AI-enhanced autonomous vehicles could enhance airport services fleets

Aston University and Aurrigo Knowledge Transfer Partnership will help self-driving baggage and cargo vehicles make decisions autonomously

The management of autonomous vehicle fleets will start moving towards smarter, decentralised coordination through the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), researchers from Aston University suggest.

Aston University has joined forces with Aurrigo, a provider of autonomous vehicles and related software for international airport operations, to develop AI to make its fleet more efficient, responsive and sustainable.

As the number of autonomous vehicles used for baggage and cargo handling at airports continues to grow, managing these fleets becomes increasingly complex.

Up until now, task allocation and scheduling have relied on centrally controlled systems overseen by human operators. They must interpret large volumes of real-time information (for example, battery level and location) and respond to frequent changes such as flight delays or gate reassignments. While effective at smaller scales, this approach can create decision bottlenecks and limit the ability of fleets to adapt quickly as operations expand.

Under the Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP), Aston University’s research team will develop new algorithms that allow individual vehicles to make smart, safe decisions locally, based on their real-time status and surroundings, and their place in the wider network of AVs.

As part of the KTP, the team will use its expertise in advanced AI and related techniques, including machine learning, to tackle challenges such as:

• Dynamically assigning tasks based on a vehicle’s location, workload and battery level.
• Enabling vehicles from different ground handlers to communicate and work together.
• Planning movements in real-time to adapt to unexpected changes such as flight delays or gate changes.
• Enabling effective scaling of vehicle task management as airports expand their fleets of autonomous baggage handling vehicles.

Coventry-based Aurrigo designs and develops autonomous vehicles – and the software that powers them – for the aviation industry. The company believes the KTP is an opportunity to investigate advanced fleet coordination methods that will lead to more efficient vehicle tasking, a reduced number of unnecessary journeys, and lower emissions and fuel use.

Simon Brewerton, chief technology officer at Aurrigo, said: “Our latest partnership with Aston University builds on the excellent outcomes obtained in previous KTP projects. The academic team brings exceptional technical expertise and a deep understanding of how to apply research to complex operational challenges.”

Dr Farzaneh Farhadi of the Aston Centre for Artificial Intelligence Research and Application, is the lead academic on the project. She said: “We want each vehicle to act more autonomously while still working as part of a fleet. By combining advanced techniques within AI and machine learning, our goal is to give vehicles the intelligence to cooperate and adapt – without waiting for human direction.”

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, funded by Innovate UK, are collaborative projects that bring together a business, an academic partner, and a qualified associate to deliver strategic innovation and business improvement. Aston University is a national leader in the programme, ranked joint-first in the UK for volume of active projects and first for overall project quality.