COVENTRY, England - UK auto supplier Aurrigo International Plc made a conscious decision nearly a decade ago to develop slow-moving autonomous vehicles AVs in order to conserve cash, which has resulted in a focus on automating baggage dollies for loading planes at airports.
David Keene, chief executive of Aurrigo, said on day one that they could not make anything that would travel at 70 miles an hour and go everywhere. We didn't have the capital because we thought it would take billions. Aurrigo has a traditional auto business that provides everything from wiring systems and center consoles to exterior trim or key fobs to Volkswagen AG luxury unit Bentley, Jaguar Land Rover and Aston Martin. Those vehicles are at the opposite end of the spectrum from Aurrigo's AVs, which in some cases travel at just above walking speed, Keene said.
Aurrigo has developed a four seater auto pod with no steering wheel or pedals for slow non-road routes such as on university campuses.
The company has designed the Auto-Dolly and Auto-DollyTug for airports and is working with Singapore's Changi Airport to automate baggage handling.
Each dolly can carry a standardized container holding about 40 bags and Aurrigo is doing tests unloading and loading a dummy plane at its own gate in Changi.
By the end of 2023 the dollies will have a real plane to load and unload and add more planes in 2024 and 2025. By 2027, Keene said AVs will handle baggage at a whole terminal and all of Changi's planes will be loaded and unloaded by AVs by the end of the decade.
AV startups have struggled with developing fully self-driving vehicles for the roads because they can't react quickly to unexpected events. Many of them have soured because of the fact that they have a lot of money.
Aurrigo's CEO said airports provide the perfect environment because all vehicles travel at low speeds.
Keene said that everything is highly regulated so you know exactly where the vehicles can go and where they can't go. It's a place for technology maturity, where you can operate AVs while on the road it's a bit like the Wild West. Aurrigo is currently talking to 80 airports about following Changi's lead and Keene said the typical airport would need between 300 and 500 dollies.
Aurrigo went public last September to help fund its transition into the aviation industry. Its stock is up 30% over its debut.
Keene said the IPO should pay for the rollout of airport dolly AVs, and that should be paid for by the IPO raised only 8 million pounds $10 million.
He said that if we need more capital or we land more contracts, we're in a great position to go back and say we need to raise more money.