It’s not often that my home airport of Miami International (MIA) leads the way when it comes to innovation (perhaps with the exception of passengers finding new ways to get into altercations), though here’s something that I find to be quite smart, and I’m surprised it hasn’t been adopted at airports on a more widespread basis.
In this post:
Miami’s nifty fleet of self-driving wheelchairs
Roughly a year ago, in mid-2024, Miami International Airport introduced a fleet of autonomous wheelchairs. I’m not sure why I haven’t covered this until now, but it’s something that I find to be quite interesting, and which I’ve noticed during every visit.
Airlines are required to provide wheelchair services for passengers who request it, though this can be complicated and costly. For example, Frontier Airlines CEO Barry Biffle has claimed that each wheelchair request costs an airline $30-35, and that says nothing of the reliability issues, like how staffing shortages can create operational challenges.
So Miami Airport has found a creative way to automate this, and it was the first airport in the United States to give this a try. Specifically, the airport has autonomous power chairs developed by WHILL, Inc., to transport passengers to their gates.
As before, there’s a central point where passengers start their wheelchair journey. Then there’s a touchscreen that allows passengers to choose their destination, and then the monitor will display how long the journey takes.
The wheelchair makes a constant chime as it goes through the terminal, and moves at a fairly slow pace, so that it doesn’t hit anyone. Of course there are also sensors to prevent this. Passengers can store their carry-on in a compartment behind the seat, and can hold any personal items in their lap.
This seems like a really smart innovation
While I’m not ordinarily someone who thinks that automation is the solution to everything, I think this is actually one of the better uses of it.
For one, the cost savings here seem massive. Airports tend to have fairly high labor rates, and the job of pushing a wheelchair is incredibly time consuming, for obvious reasons, which is why it’s so costly for airlines.
It’s not like we’re talking about cost savings of a few dollars per passenger, but instead, we’re talking about savings of $30-35, and ultimately, that contributes quite a bit to airline costs, especially in some markets. I’m no expect on wheelchair costs, but I have to imagine that these pay for themselves within several weeks of entering operation.
Admittedly I haven’t used one of these wheelchairs, so I can’t speak to what the actual experience is like, and how it compares to having a human push a wheelchair. Purely based on my observations, it seems like they operate pretty reliably, and I’ve never observed any sort of issues.
So I’m curious why these haven’t been adopted on a more widespread basis — are they more expensive than I assume, are there lobbying groups for the employees who would be impacted, are they not as good as they seem, or what?
Bottom line
Miami Airport has autonomous wheelchairs, which have been in service for a little over a year now. Given how labor intensive accessibility services otherwise are, this actually seems like one of the smarter innovations that we’ve seen at airports.
At least based on what I’ve observed, these operate pretty reliably. Given that airlines reportedly pay around $30-35 per wheelchair user, the potential cost savings here seem massive.
What do you make of these autonomous wheelchairs, and do you think we’ll see them at airports on a more widespread basis?
We have had these at Winnipeg (YWG) for a year or more now …. we were one of the text sites
This has been used for years already by Haneda and Narita
WHILL is a Japanese venture and it has been quite interesting.
Another interesting wheeelchair is the one codeveloped by ANA and Japanese company Matsunaga: it is a wheelchair hat does not use metal part. And it is de-attachable so it can go inside airplane without the person shifting from bigger wheelchair to a smaller one that fits onto the airplane corridor
I tried this earlier this year at MIA because I was curious (and I am somewhat handicap but not using wheelchair all the time). The vehicle follows a certain straight route and will not swerve when there is someone in the way, like passengers standing. Instead, it expects that other person to move out of the way. And because it senses every time someone steps in front of the vehicle to pass, it's stop and...
I tried this earlier this year at MIA because I was curious (and I am somewhat handicap but not using wheelchair all the time). The vehicle follows a certain straight route and will not swerve when there is someone in the way, like passengers standing. Instead, it expects that other person to move out of the way. And because it senses every time someone steps in front of the vehicle to pass, it's stop and go all the time so it's slooow. I would recommend it if you're somewhat immobile, have a lot of time waiting, want to reach a destination, and there is no wheelchair assist. If you have a choice to get a wheelchair assist with a real person, do that instead.
As noted Seatac launched them with Alaska Air in Sept. 2024 That chime though it sticks with me for days.
Hasn't Alaska using these at SEA longer than MIA? They do come with some navigational issues but agree with the cost savings since airlines are saddled with the obligation of providing extra service without being able to collect revenue for it.
I had this experience from the other side. I was standing *against a wall* in a concourse at MIA, waiting for somebody to emerge from the restroom. A wheelchair carrying somebody trundled up to me and stopped. I wasn't even really paying attention to it until its passenger, apologetically, asked me to move. I stepped into the middle of the concourse and it continued on.
Awkward for both of us, and the tech should be able to do a lot better. Color me unimpressed.
Sorry--trying to reply to a different comment!
Alaska Airlines is also using autonomous wheelchairs at Seattle Tacoma Airport
Best case scenario is a hard learning curve like the autonomous cars had of running into things, blocking spaces, riding past gates and not stopping till someone jams a button, etc, etc, etc.
Was in an airport lounge with an autonomous robot designed to pick up people's dishes and glasswear, it was very easy to fu©k with.
So sure, let's put some of our most vulnerable fliers in the hands of these filthy robots
Guess you should not go to Japan.
They got the robot wheelchairs.
And the new robots to pick up people's dishes. They have restaurants that deliver your food, a tablet on the table to order, when you enter the restaurant there is a kiosk that tells you what tablet to sit at, when you are ready to leave a kiosk to pay. But they have staff to takeaway dishes and clean the tables. :)
And...
Guess you should not go to Japan.
They got the robot wheelchairs.
And the new robots to pick up people's dishes. They have restaurants that deliver your food, a tablet on the table to order, when you enter the restaurant there is a kiosk that tells you what tablet to sit at, when you are ready to leave a kiosk to pay. But they have staff to takeaway dishes and clean the tables. :)
And people in Japan treat those restaurant robots like shit. Push them around etc. Hehe
If they didn't want the robots to be bullied, they shouldn't have given them such bulliable faces. I'm not a fan of them either.
I think the hesitancy is probably related to old people being the primary audience for the wheelchairs and fears old people have around stuff like this
I wonder how the wheelchairs operate to meet arriving passengers? How about a detour to the restroom?
In countries with low labor costs, someone might make less than $10/day.
From the way this is described, I'm thinking they have geofences or RFID markers installed to essentially give the wheelchairs a "track" to follow and navigate their way around the airport. In which case, I'd assume they did that for the restrooms too, not just the gates, configured to take the passenger to the handicap/wheelchair accessible stall. Guessing there's a button to request the pit stop on the wheelchair controls.
There is a screen where you can get dropped off at any time, so if you see a bathroom and see the need to go, it will stop. However, it will not wait for you until you're done, it will go back to its 'base'.
Last September or so AMS started testing those self-driving wheelchairs. I think they also use vehicles from Whill.
It was the first and only time I've seen this when I traveled through AMS (which was also last Sepember) and I thought that was an indeed good idea.
I gotta admit that I didn't compare it to regular wheelchairs pushed by some personnel but to larger vehicles cruising between gates and carrying like 2,...
Last September or so AMS started testing those self-driving wheelchairs. I think they also use vehicles from Whill.
It was the first and only time I've seen this when I traveled through AMS (which was also last Sepember) and I thought that was an indeed good idea.
I gotta admit that I didn't compare it to regular wheelchairs pushed by some personnel but to larger vehicles cruising between gates and carrying like 2, 4, or any number of passengers, and driven by some airport worker. So what I admired was the compactness of this solution.
Every once in a while I am amazed at the clever solutions the Dutch come up with. Interesting when you consider that the Dutch and we Germans ... well ... really "like" each other ;-)
I've seen something similar to these operate at Haneda for a couple years now. They seem to be working well but funnily enough are way smaller than the models shown here. Make of that what you will.
I've seen these for several months now in the Detroit airport as well - they seem to operate well.