Christchurch Airport has announced the country’s first autonomous shuttle, as part of its ongoing Autonomous Vehicle (AV) trial.
The ohmio LIFT was initially tested on private roads at the airport, with the vehicle now going public as part of the trial’s second stage.
“This vehicle has been produced by our trial partner ohmio. It is autonomous, electric and parts of it have been 3D printed,” said Chief Executive of Christchurch Airport, Malcolm Johns.
“The Kiwi Smart Shuttle can carry up to 15 adults, so may offer more possible uses for us across our campus in future. In the meantime, we will continue testing and learning to understand its capabilities.”
Chief Executive of ohmio Automation, Stephen Matthews, said the realisation of the first LIFT represented a real achievement for the company: “It is proof of our capability and realisation of our world-class driverless vehicle technology, pioneered in New Zealand.
“We are very excited to partner with Christchurch Airport. Their vision to realise the future allows us to demonstrate ohmio vehicles successfully operating as a first- and last-mile strategy in the airport context.
“We have the vehicle, they have the roads where we can test safely and we look forward to showcasing the Lift in a world premier event in the next few months.”
