Driverless tow vehicles trialled at Tokyo Haneda Airport

Toyota Industries and All Nippon Airways (ANA) are trialling a driverless vehicle to tow cargo containers at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport in a bid to overcome labor shortages as passenger numbers in Japan continue to rise to pre-pandemic levels.

The autonomous vehicle can tow up to six containers at a time, with a maximum weight of 13 tons, traveling between aircraft and airport buildings over a distance of approximately 2km.

The Level 4 vehicle, meaning that it does not require human interaction in certain settings although a human driver can still request control, has been in operation since July 1. According to Toyota and ANA, the government-backed trial will hopefully enable the vehicle to be fully operational by the end of next year. The companies have previously trialled the technology at Saga Airport in 2019.

Trials of autonomous vehicles have been implemented elsewhere in Japan, with Nissan Motor aiming to bring its in-house-developed autonomous-drive mobility services to commercialization in Japan by 2027.

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