Coventry's Aurrigo and UPS announce autonomous electric cargo vehicle pilot programme at East Midlands Airport

By Peter Davison

29 September 2023

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The Aurrigo Auto-Cargo Concept for UPS Partnership

Logistics firm UPS and Coventry-based Aurrigo have announced a collaborative project to deploy Auto-Cargo, an autonomous electric vehicle designed to move heavy cargo loads to and from aircraft at the UPS hub at East Midlands Airport, the UK’s second-largest cargo terminal.

The vehicle can transport a standard full-size cargo pallet or two half-size aviation industry standard containers or Unit Load Devices (ULD) up to a total load of 7.5 tonnes and is designed to tow a further fully loaded cargo trailer behind it.

Its autonomous technology will enable the limited numbers of security-cleared drivers to be freed-up to perform other roles around the airport, while also producing zero tailpipe emissions.

The programme is supported by matched funding from Innovate UK, the UK Government’s innovation agency, and CCAV, with almost £500K in funding. The two companies will develop and pilot Auto-Cargo at East Midlands Airport over a 14-month period.

David Keene, CEO of Aurrigo International plc, commented: “This vehicle allows an airfreight operator to help decarbonise and automate its ground operations for lower emissions and greater efficiency.

"By combining the tractor and trailer into one unit, we save space, which, in a busy cargo hub like East Midlands Airport, is vital to efficient loading and unloading of aircraft.’’

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Matt Nicholson, UPS International Director of Automotive Engineering, said: “Our business is all about delivering parcels efficiently through our global, integrated network.

"This collaboration will help us do that with increased safety and zero tailpipe emissions, making our airside operation more efficient with a purpose-designed vehicle.’’

By Peter Davison

Peter Davison is deputy editor of The Business Magazine. He has spent his life in journalism – doing work experience in newsrooms in and around Bristol while still at school, and landing his first job on a local newspaper aged 19. By 28 he was the youngest newspaper editor in the country.

An early advocate of online news, he spent the first years of the 2000s telling his bosses that the internet posed both the biggest opportunity and greatest threat to the newspaper industry and the art of journalism. He was right on both counts.

Since 2006 he has enjoyed a career as a freelance journalist. He lives in rural Wiltshire with one wife, two children, and three cats.