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London Gatwick has launched a robotic airport parking service

aerospaceglobalnews.com

71–80 of 285 posts

Re: London Gatwick has launched a robotic airport parking service

#71
post #43

"Unlike traditional valet parking, passengers retain possession of their keys throughout their trip." "If passengers accidentally leave an essential item in the vehicle after drop-off, on-site staff will be available to retrieve emergency items." But.. how would they get that emergency item if they don't have the keys?

I can remote lock/unlock my car from an app, so I’m guessing this is what they are thinking about.

Re: London Gatwick has launched a robotic airport parking service

#73
I heard horror stories, where "secure storage area" was actually a field without any security. Not saying this is the case here, but one must be mad to give a car like that without knowing exact location it is going.

It's one of the things where I can't see what is there robot's role here.

Re: London Gatwick has launched a robotic airport parking service

#75
post #14

So I'll have to park my car in a garage first, then take a bus to the terminal just so that a robot can move my car from the place where I parked it to a different place? I was hoping it'd be something where I'd pull up to the curb, grab my bags and head in while the robot parked the car for me but apparently I'll still have to take a bus to the terminal?

Exactly, i think this product is solving an airport problem and not a user problem. Whenever i park at an airport i always look for the shortest distance to terminal / price, then chose an option that lands within an acceptable range. Unless i'm way for very long shuttle-bus isn't really on the table.

I look for most spacious parking place with wide approach lanes, then shortest distance. Some car parks at the airports are just ridiculous. So narrow you can't exit the car.

Re: London Gatwick has launched a robotic airport parking service

#76
post #72

I guess we can add this to the ever-growing list of extremely expensive, complicated, inefficient and convoluted solutions to problems that end with the final specification: "but it can't be a train".

My company used to cover a car service for us (limo), my door to the terminal.

When they set up the AirTrain, I stopped using the car service. It took longer, but I have always had a soft spot for mass transit, and I kind of got a kick out of boarding a train in Huntington, NY, and leaving the train, in Shinagawa.

Re: London Gatwick has launched a robotic airport parking service

#77

I heard horror stories, where "secure storage area" was actually a field without any security. Not saying this is the case here, but one must be mad to give a car like that without knowing exact location it is going. It's one of the things where I can't see what is there robot's role here.

I doubt the robots have sufficient enough traction/mobility to navigate on any surface that isn't reasonably smooth like tarmac. Also I'd wager the car park the robots go to isn't that far away from the drop off location, most likely on the same land owned by the airport.

Re: London Gatwick has launched a robotic airport parking service

#79
post #14

So I'll have to park my car in a garage first, then take a bus to the terminal just so that a robot can move my car from the place where I parked it to a different place? I was hoping it'd be something where I'd pull up to the curb, grab my bags and head in while the robot parked the car for me but apparently I'll still have to take a bus to the terminal?

Implementation is everything. If there’s enough capacity to drive up and drop your car off without queueing, and your car is ready to go as you leave the terminal then it sounds great. If there’s a half hour wait to get into the drop off zone, and another half hour wait after picking up your bags, and a half hour walk to the pickup/dropoff area then I’d prefer a 30 min shuttle.

Re: London Gatwick has launched a robotic airport parking service

#80
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's still an impressive engineering feat, and (probably, given recent AI advances) an incredible time to market. I wonder when they started working on this, how big their company is, how much training data they put into it, etc. What is the name of the company that built this?

I parked in a robotic parking garage in Denmark ten years ago. This isn't really new tech, though the implementation sounds a bit different.

Great, I've been day-dreaming about this for decades, and when it finally happens, I don't notice it. ;p
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