This past Wednesday, the makers of the Model Ci Intelligent Personal Electric Vehicles, WHILL, announced that their new airport trial schedule aims to provide effortless travel experiences for travelers with restricted mobility. The trials have already been completed at the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) on November 14 and 15, and the Winnipeg Richardson International Airport (YWG) trials will be held on December 12 and 13. These trials are not the first that WHILL has conducted with their autonomous wheelchairs, they previously held trials at the Haneda Airport, Abu Dhabi Airport, and Amsterdam Airport.
WHILL’s goal is to create the world’s first “smart airports”. After arriving at the airport, travelers with restricted mobility will navigate through the airport on their WHILL airport model, and when they arrive at their gate they can simple hit “return” on their wheelchair to send it back to it’s original docking station. These autonomous wheelchairs have been programmed to use their built in sensors and brakes to avoid people and objects on its journey back through the airport.
Read the full press kit here.