Airport parking can be a headache, both for rushed passengers who want to make sure their car is safe, and the airports increasingly losing out on parking revenue to services like Uber.
But a French robotics firm thinks it has a solution.
Stanley Robotics has developed automated valets who, after years of testing, will be rolled out at Lyon-Saint Exupéry airport over the coming weeks.
Four robots will be responsible for filling 500 spaces – passengers leave their car in one of 12 drop-off cabins, taking their keys with them, after which the machines use a long, extendable arm to lift the car underneath its wheels and take it to be parked.
Stanley Robotics and its partner Aéroports de Lyon says the system is more secure, simple and time-saving. It should reassure passengers that their car will not be used while they are away, and save them the hassle of finding somewhere to park and relocating the car at the end of the trip (the robots know the flight details of each car owner and take it to a pick-up point prior to their arrival).
From the perspective of airport operators it also allows cars to be parked into far smaller spaces, increasing a car park’s capacity by up to 50 per cent.
London’s Gatwick airport is set to trial the technology this summer.
See how it works here:
