Passengers flying from Gatwick this summer will be the first in the UK to have their car parked by a robot, as the airport rolls out its long-awaited automated valet system to real passengers for the first time.
The Robot Valets will initially operate in one specific car park, with drivers leaving their car in a designated bay before a driverless robot lifts and stores the vehicle automatically, without anyone needing to hand over their keys. A Gatwick spokesperson said the project had been years in the making, and that after extensive testing, this summer marks the first genuine launch with real passengers using the system.
The move is part of a wider summer push at Gatwick, which is now flying to more than 230 destinations across a record 63 airlines, with 11 new routes and eight new airline partners added so far this year. It’s a sign of just how much the airport is investing in both technology and route expansion as it looks to strengthen its position as one of Europe’s best-connected airports.
For drivers and passengers alike, robot parking promises to cut down on the time-consuming, often stressful business of finding a space in a packed airport car park during peak summer travel. Whether it proves popular with passengers who might be wary of a driverless system parking their car remains to be seen, but Gatwick clearly believes the technology has matured enough to trust it with the real thing.
It’s a small but telling sign of how quickly automation is creeping into everyday airport life, well beyond the self-driving cars and robotaxis that tend to grab the headlines.
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