WeRide has announced the deployment of its Robobus autonomous shuttle service at Zurich Airport in partnership with Flughafen Zürich and Swiss Transit Lab (STL). The deployment marks a milestone in bringing autonomous mobility solutions to one of Europe’s major aviation hubs.
The WeRide Robobus can carry up to nine passengers and will be the first commercial autonomous bus shuttle project at a European airport. It will serve airport employees along a dedicated route connecting the employee entrance at Gate 101 to the maintenance area at Gate 130. The route is separate from flight operations and does not cross any airplane taxiways, making it an ideal place to use AVs for the first time. The service is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2025.
Flughafen Zürich is working closely with other airports – such as Brussels and Amsterdam – that are also testing technologies for AVs. Zurich Airport is at the foot of the Alps, presenting numerous challenges to autonomous driving due to its complex operational environment and climatic conditions. The airport’s aviation-grade safety requirements are extremely high, with strict regulations on the safety and standards of internal operational vehicle systems.
The operational route passes through areas with narrow roads, high pedestrian traffic and many parked vehicles. Special airport vehicles such as tow trucks, mobile boarding bridge vehicles, luggage transportation vehicles and large snow removal vehicles interact on the same roads. The facility is a high-intensity electromagnetic signal environment, and the shuttle also needs to cope with weather conditions – often extreme – that can change from sunny to rainy or snowy within the same day. WeRide has successfully worked around these challenges with its technical capabilities and experience.
This deployment follows success in Paris, where Robobus provided shuttle services for VIPs and media across a 5km route during the French Open, as part of an ongoing collaboration with Renault Group. The initial phase at Zurich Airport will include a safety driver on board, with plans to transition to remote monitoring operations in subsequent phases.
“During a tender, one of the leading companies in the automated mobility sector – WeRide – was selected as the technology provider. WeRide possesses a fully developed and thoroughly tested technology, meets all of the legal and safety requirements in place at Zurich Airport and guarantees that it will meet the data protection requirements set out,” said Flughafen Zürich in its announcement of the service.