Groupe ADP Launched the First Trial of Autonomous Shuttles at a French Airport

Groupe ADP has launched on April 4, 2018 a trial of two fully electric, driverless shuttles — the first at a French airport. Located in the heart of the airport's business district, Roissypôle, they connect the suburban train station (RER) to the Environmental and Sustainable Development Resource Centre and Groupe ADP's headquarters. Keolis, the operator, has joined forces with Navya, the French autonomous shuttle designer, to carry out the pilot project until July 2018.

This initial trial represents an important milestone in Groupe ADP’s strategy to become a key player in the autonomous vehicle ecosystem. The itinerary of the two shuttles is unprecedented and presents great complexity: the aim is to test how the automated vehicles will behave on a high- traffic roadway, as well as how they merge and pass within an extremely dense environment that includes many pedestrians.

An intelligent road infrastructure system that uses traffic signals to communicate dynamically with the shuttles has been set up, a world first, in order to optimize the crossing of the road in complete safety. Feedback from users (employees and passengers) is also one of the trial's determining factors.

The airport city: a key area for the development of autonomous vehicles

The new autonomous mobility solutions are a strategic concern for the development and competitiveness of our airports, as they help enhance service quality and the reliability of the various transportation modes used, in addition to improving road network flow around major hubs.

This initial step will allow Groupe ADP to subsequently roll out this technology on other sites and with other applications, within a multifaceted area like the airport city. Expanding the itinerary through ' the public roads around Roissypôle could, for example, be considered.

“Autonomous transport services will play a key role in our aim to create a new generation of connected airports. With this first trial, Groupe ADP is paving the way for developing this technology within our airport networks in France and abroad. In these constrained environments, autonomous technology is a lever for optimizing infrastructures for of a new mobility offer.

Our airports' mobility needs are quite considerable – between the various terminals, between car parks and departure areas, or even airside — and could lead us to develop an autonomous vehicle fleet in the future. Within the framework of our Innovation Hub programme, the future of mobility is being built in the heart of the airport city," stated Edward Arkwright, deputy CEO of Groupe ADP.

The trial project in a few figures

The two shuttles, accessible to persons with reduced mobility, can carry up to 11 seated and 4 standing passengers. Each can reach 25 km/h on a 700-meter-long track. The service operates from 7:30 am to 8:00 pm and is free. An on-demand shuttle service is available by scanning a QR code with a smartphone.

“Keolis and the ADP Group have been working closely for several years now in order to develop mobility services adapted to the airport zones of the Paris region. Keolis is proud to be supporting the ADP Group in their new autonomous vehicle trial, which enhances the range of services that we already provide them with, including the management of the Roissypôle bus station, the shuttle buses for Orly Airport, as well as our partnership with Le Bus Direct, a premium coach service between Paris and Orly and Charles de Gaulle airports. This is Keolis’ second autonomous shuttle project in the Greater Paris region, following the launch of a first trial in Paris’ La Defense business district in July 2017, with the local transport authority, Ile-de-France Mobilités. The Keolis Group is accelerating its transformation into new mobility solutions, and this new trial strengthens our status as a pioneer in autonomous mobility, with more than 90,000 passengers carried on our autonomous shuttles since September 2016,” said Youenn Dupuis, Keolis’ deputy CEO for Greater Paris region.

"NAVYA is delighted to be marking out the airport of the future together with Groupe ADP and Keolis. The airport of the future is based on smart and specially adapted mobility solutions that are able to communicate with the infrastructure that we have set up at Roissypôle with Groupe ADP. Airports are areas where the traffic is extremely concentrated and so it is really important to manage and optimise the flow. The aim of this trial is from now on, to provide a service that takes into account future deployments. Once again, NAVYA is showing that its fleets of autonomous shuttles are just as suited to improving the daily running of airports as they are to improving the overall passenger experience," stated NAVYA CEO Christophe Sapet.