Avinor, a state-owned company that manages most of Norway's civilian airports, chooses to deploy autonomous snow ploughs. The vehicles should keep runways free of snow without the intervention of human drivers.
A dozen snow ploughs are being supplied to Avinor by Norwegian company Øveraasen AS. These are traditional snow ploughs, which need to be driven by a human. The also Norwegian subcontractor Yeti Move equips these trucks with autonomous technology and IT systems. This gives the vehicles intelligent functions on board and allows them to operate autonomously.
Autonomous mobility
Yeti Move is a company that focuses specifically on autonomous mobility. Among other things, the company helps clients develop sustainable business cases and implement autonomous solutions.
It is also focusing on retrofitting traditional vehicles with autonomous technology. Among other things, this allows autonomous functionality to be added to any conventional vehicle. Yeti Move claims that this allows customers to deploy autonomous technology even if autonomous is not available for their application.
The eight-year contract includes the supply of 12 autonomous snow ploughs as well as a series of non-autonomous snow ploughs. These will be deployed conventionally. Avinor uses a fleet of some 150 snow ploughs to keep runways at all airports it manages snow-free. Maintenance of the snow ploughs is also part of the deal, which has a value of some 40 million euros.
Avinor is one of the first parties to go ahead with such a concept. "We want to set the route when it comes to new ways of thinking and innovation," says Abraham Foss, CEO of Avinor. "With this procurement, Avinor is taking steps into winter operations of the future where autonomous snow ploughs are part of the solution. We are one of the first in the world to deploy a concept like this in practice. It enables us to fulfil our goal of being a leader in winter operations in the coming years."
Fewer resources needed
"An automated concept for winter work enables us to perform our tasks with fewer resources. Streamlining and automation are high on our agendas," says Foss. "Ten years ago, the concept of autonomous snowploughs was nothing more than an idea on paper. This is why it is so satisfying to see that the technology is already mature enough for deployment in regular operations."
The autonomous operation of the snow ploughs offer several advantages. For instance, they perform the work more accurately than humans, while at the same time causing less wear and tear on equipment. In addition, the new models of snow ploughs for which Avinor has opted offer more capacity and can move more snow, which means fewer snow ploughs need to be deployed.
Author: Wouter Hoeffnagel
