(WWJ) You've no doubt heard about autonomous vehicles on the road, now travelers may see autonomous wheelchairs at Detroit Metro Airport.
A pilot program in partnership with Unifi will give people who cannot walk long distances a new way to get to their terminal.
"The introduction of WHILL autonomous wheelchairs is a major step forward in improving accessibility at DTW,” said Wayne County Airport Authority CEO Chad Newton in a statement. “This collaboration with Unifi allows us to offer a cutting-edge, efficient service for customers, ensuring a smoother and more inclusive airport experience.”
The wheelchairs have controls that can be paused at any time by the passenger. The autonomous chairs also feature several key safeguards, including sensors to detect obstacles and brake, pre-mapped routes and backup systems and remove supervision to make sure the chairs run smoothly. There are also emergency stop buttons.
More than 100 WHILL devices are currently deployed across various airports and have completed more than 400,000 autonomous rides to date.
The autonomous wheelchairs are at the McNamara Terminal currently and later this year they will also be available at the Warren Cleage Evans Terminal.
For those who don't want to use an autonomous wheelchair, the traditional service will still be available.