Parking robots increase car park capacity at Gatwick airport

Parking your car at Gatwick airport might require a lot less walking from the enormous car park to the terminal building. Stan, an autonomous valet robot, can park your car for you.

The benefits are obvious: no more looking for an empty spot and no long walks through endless car parks. Stan will also be able to park cars closer together than humans, allowing for more cars to be packed in the same space.

After a driver has dropped off their vehicle at a predetermined drop-off point, they can summon Stan through a touchscreen. Stan will then scan the vehicle to determine its size, lift the vehicle onto its platform and ferry it to a spot where it will fit. Stan will also remember the passenger’s itinerary so the car is ready when they arrive back at Gatwick.

Stan is a product of Stanley Robotics, a French parking robotics company that already operates parking robots at Lyon airport.

The trial at Gatwick will take place in Zone B of the airport’s south terminal long-stay car park, where 170 slots from the existing 2,350 will be controlled by Stan. Impressively, these 170 slots will be used to park 270 robotic parking places, effectively creating 100 extra spaces. The trial will start in April and finish in August. If successful, the system could be rolled out across all of the airport’s car parks.

Image: Stan robot (source: Stanley Robotics)