All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Toyota Industries announced on December 15 that they will begin transporting cargo on domestic scheduled flights at Haneda Airport using Level 4 autonomous driving (fully unmanned operation).
<Automated towing tractor manufactured by Toyota Industries Corporation>
As of December, three units have been introduced, with plans to add another three units by the end of fiscal year 2025.
ANA and Toyota Industries Corporation will introduce three Toyota Industries-manufactured autonomous towing tractors for domestic cargo transport at Haneda Airport and begin operation on domestic scheduled flights. This marks the first practical application of Level 4 autonomous driving within the restricted area of an airport in Japan.
This autonomous towing tractor features high-performance and redundant self-positioning and obstacle detection systems to adapt to various environmental and conditional changes throughout the airport. Furthermore, it is equipped with a remote monitoring function to quickly respond to abnormal situations during Level 4 autonomous driving, where a high level of safety is required.
In terms of operations, to achieve efficient operations using multiple vehicles, the "Fleet Management System (FMS)," developed in cooperation with Toyota Industries Corporation, has been introduced. In addition to issuing transport instructions to vehicles and managing vehicle operations, the FMS automatically assigns departure and arrival lanes to efficiently use limited space, automatically links with traffic signal control, and centralizes the latest information in a timely manner.
<FMS Operation Image>
Furthermore, the FMS (Fleet Management System) enables efficient operation by coordinating with vehicle condition monitoring, transport instructions to vehicles, transport support instructions to personnel in charge of pre-transport processes (such as setting vehicles at the departure position), and traffic signal control.
<Overview of unmanned cargo transport>
