Unmanned tractors and cleaning machines are planned to be tested and used in six Russian airports. The government has established a special experimental legal regime for such equipment for a period of three years. During this time, project participants expect to complete at least 96 thousand tasks and work at least 24 thousand engine hours.

This refers to machines that do not require constant driver control. They use lidars, radars, video cameras, satellite communications, and other systems to determine their position, monitor the surrounding environment, and perform assigned operations. The operation of the equipment will be coordinated by a dispatching system.

The experiment will cover the transport security zones of airports in Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk, Vnukovo in Moscow, Pulkovo in St. Petersburg, Sochi, and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. The project will involve airport infrastructure operators and four equipment manufacturers — Cognitive Pilot, Petersburg Tractor Plant, KAMAZ, and EvoCargo.

Such machines can transport luggage between the terminal and the aircraft, clear snow on runways, and perform other work on the airfield territory.

New rules distribute responsibilities between airports and manufacturers

Operators will need to train dispatchers and drivers, establish machine movement procedures, and determine how to act in emergency situations. They are also responsible for the operation of the equipment and the dispatching system.

Manufacturers, in turn, must prepare operating instructions, ensure the compatibility of machines with airfield control systems, organize data transfer to ERA-GLONASS, and assess the compliance of the automated control system with established requirements.

One of the airports — Pulkovo — is already preparing for testing. In the first stage, they plan to test unmanned baggage tractors, snow removal machines for runways, and grass mowing equipment.

Airport CEO Leonid Sergeev stated that the introduction of autonomous machines could increase labor productivity by at least 25% and reduce annual operating costs by more than 150 million rubles. This is an airport estimate, not a confirmed result of a completed experiment.