Shropshire Star

Autonomous snowploughs complete first test in Norway

The 20m long and five-metre wide driverless vehicles were tasked with clearing snow from the runway of an airport 124 miles north of Oslo, Norway

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(Yeti Snow Technology)

A group of autonomous snowploughs have been successfully tested after clearing the runway of a Norwegian airport.

The vehicles, developed by Yeti Snow Technology, are based on Mercedes-Benz HGVs and use autonomous technology from Swedish company Semcon to clear snow without the aid of a human driver.

The snowploughs have been developed by Yeti Snow Technology, which is co-owned by Semcon and airport vehicle developer Øveraasen, for Norwegian airport operator Avinor.

(Yeti Snow Technology)

It is hoped that as the vehicles are further developed by Semcon, which is working with complex real-time systems and autonomous technology, they will be able to help make delayed flights due to snow a thing of the past.

(Yeti Snow Technology)

“This is a good example of how autonomous vehicles can increase profitability and add value for people.”

John Emil Halden, project manager at Semcon, added: “We have designed a control system that sets up digital patterns for autonomous snow clearance at airports.

“The system can then download these patterns and monitor a number of vehicles that navigate using RTK GPS – an accurate form of position measurement – and communicate using 4G modems.”

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