Passengers can check-in their luggage by just allowing a machine to take a picture of it. From there, an autonomous vehicle will carry it to the airplane. Eindhoven Airport has become the testing ground for Vanderlande to develop advanced solutions that will make the airport more efficient. Vanderlande says this all helps make the aviation industry more sustainable, more scalable, and smarter. Eindhoven Airport will allow Vanderlande to run tests in a live environment, so that it can innovate, optimize, and simplify a number of airport processes.
More on innovation at Eindhoven Airport here
Both organizations are based in the Brainport region of The Netherlands and will collaborate with local technology, design, and knowledge institutes for several months to further explore the process.
As part of the arrangement, Eindhoven Airport, Vanderlande, and baggage identification specialist BagsID will apply computer learning and image recognition technology. This will allow passengers to check-in an item of luggage simply by having cameras take a photograph of it. Testing a self-driving vehicle on the apron, which can autonomously transfer baggage to and from aircraft, will start early next year.
Mirjam van den Bogaard, COO at Eindhoven Airport, says that the experiments are part of a broader collaboration with Vanderlande. “The aviation industry is facing numerous challenges and, through innovation, we are looking for ways to turn these into opportunities. Our future strategy is based on the conviction that innovations in aviation can be put into practice sooner if different disciplines cooperate with each other.”
Vanderlande’s Market Director Airports Mark Lakerveld agrees: “Innovation is essential in further optimizing airport processes and improving the passenger experience. We recognize that new technologies, robotics, and digitalization will help shape the airport of the future.”
Airports, the parcel market, and warehouses
Vanderlande is the global market leader for value-added logistic process automation at airports, and in the parcel market. The company is also a leading supplier of process automation solutions for warehouses.
Vanderlande’s baggage handling systems are active in 600 airports worldwide. More than 48 million parcels are sorted by their systems every day. In addition, many of the largest global e-commerce players and distribution firms rely on Vanderlande’s solutions.
Established in 1949, Vanderlande has more than 6,500 employees and a turnover of 1.6 billion euros. Vanderlande was acquired in 2017 by Toyota Industries Corporation.
