Automated accessibility

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This article was published 13/12/2022 (1012 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In the years to come as autonomous wheelchairs zip mobility challenged travellers around airport terminals, Winnipeggers can take some pride in knowing that it happened here first.

This week, the Winnipeg Richardson International Airport became the first airport in North America to provide autonomous power-chair service that will take passengers with reduced mobility from their airline check-in kiosk, through security to their departure gate.

The service is provided by WHILL Inc., a Japanese mobility equipment manufacturer which in 2019 acquired Scootaround, the Winnipeg company that rents and services thousands of mobility devices to travellers all over North America.

The combination of WHILL’s Japanese technology and Scootaround’s experience working with mobility-challenged travellers resulted in the autonomous mobility service.

The Winnipeg airport is starting with four devices. After the user selects their destination on a touch screen, the autonomous power chair transports the passenger safely to the desired gate. The chair will then return to the designated area — on its own — to wait for another passenger.

The only other airports in the world where the service is available are Haneda and Narita airports in Tokyo where 25 of the devices are in constant use.

Kerry Renaud, the Winnipeg-based head of WHILL’s North American operations — and the former CEO of Scootaround — said with the increasing number of travellers who need assistance, internal transportation solutions within airports is a “developing demand”

It is estimated that about two per cent of the global population needs wheelchairs — not counting those who only need one on a short-term basis — and there are about 42 million occasions annually in the top 60 airports alone where airline or airport staff assist travellers by pushing then in wheelchairs.

Renaud said, “The current program of attended assisted wheelchair push service needs a refresh.”

Nick Hays, president and CEO of the Winnipeg Airports Authority said the airport is pleased to be able to provide such a value-added service.

“We are committed to being able to provide a welcoming, inclusive, accessible airport for everyone,” he said.

Trial runs of the autonomous devices have taken place in several airports across North America, including in Winnipeg since 2019.

It is a rare event that a Winnipeg company is able to secure its first commercial customer at home rather than in the export market.

“This is a homegrown success story,” Hays said. “With locally-based developers working for a company with ties to Manitoba, testing their technology right here at the Winnipeg airport.”

Both Renaud and Hays were vague as to how the business case for the service will materialize. Renaud said there will be hybrid models. He said in some cases the airport itself will be responsible for the service, as is the case in Winnipeg. In other locales, airlines may be WHILL’s customer and in other cases it will be third-party service providers that handle passengers with reduced mobility.

Renaud said there has not been much pre-marketing of the launch in terms of letting the mobility-challenged travelling public know about the service.

Eric Lipp, executive director of Chicago-based Open Doors, an organization that helps businesses succeed in the disability market, said, “The Winnipeg airport already provides a good service and I think they got it right giving travellers a choice to use the autonomous device or a traditional wheelchair.”

Even though autonomous devices are an emerging technology, company officials said they are not concerned about the public’s comfort level in using the devices.

Yuta Okumura, WHILL’s director of the autonomous program, said, “We have received very, very positive feedback especially when it comes to the time it takes for people to get used to the technology.”

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca