The company behind a new autonomous dolly being tested at London Heathrow Terminal 5 has launched its second new product for the aviation sector.
Technical engineers at Aurrigo have developed a new Transport Safety System (TSS) that can be used to reduce the number of incidents involving baggage and cargo containers falling from towed dollies due to being locked down incorrectly.
Each dolly will have an electronic control unit and sensors fitted to it that communicate wirelessly to another control unit mounted in the tow tug. Warnings are then provided to the driver through a display screen and, if necessary, the tug will be immobilized, for instance when luggage is lost or locking is not correct.
Miles Garner, sales and marketing director at Aurrigo, explained, “Our work with International Airlines Group (IAG) and British Airways on the autonomous baggage dolly has given us the opportunity to explore some of the other issues facing the aviation sector and our engineers quickly identified a way of solving the costly issue of incidents involving damaged baggage and ruined cargo.
“There are hundreds of incidents every year where crashes happen due to driver error or the units not being stacked or locked in properly. Our Transport Safety System can help eradicate a lot of these as the tugs will not be able to move until everything is in place and, importantly, drivers will be immediately made aware if the situation changes.”
The launch of TSS, which can be retrofitted to tugs and dollies already in use, comes just a few weeks after Aurrigo completed the second phase of testing for its autonomous baggage dolly at Heathrow Terminal 5.