Driverless buses to take holiday-goers to planes

Aurrigo's Auto-Shuttle will be trialled at Teesside Airport before being used to take passengers to their flights

Holiday-goers at an airport will be carried to their planes by driverless vehicles following a £1m deal.

Teesside International Airport has signed a contract with Aurrigo International Plc, which will trial its eight-seater Auto-Shuttle at the site from October.

The company will also test its Auto-Dolly Tug, which has been designed to carry cargo and bags around airports, from January.

Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said the trial would bring jobs and investment to the region and put Teesside on the map for "cutting-edge innovation".

If the trials are successful, passengers could be transported to their flights by the driverless vehicles from early 2026.

"These vehicles arriving in just a couple of months' time are a huge boost and I'm excited to see them serving holidaymakers on our year-round flights in the New Year," Houchen said.

The Auto-Dolly Tug will be trialled at the airport's new test centre

Earlier this year, the airport announced plans to invest £2m to construct a new facility focused on testing and building "trackless trams".

The Tees Valley Combined Authority said it hoped the facility would allow driverless vehicles to operate in town centres by the end of 2027.

Aurrigo's vehicles will complete trial runs at the new test centre before they are moved airside.

Airport managing director, Phil Forster, said the new technology would allow bags to move from check-in to the planes "more seamlessly, and in an even greener way".

"It will also help us shape how we move passengers around Teesside in the future and will likely have an impact on the whole aviation industry," he said.

Aurrigo CEO David Keene said the company's vehicles had been deployed across the world but this would be the first time they were integrated at a "live airport".