Aurrigo International has secured up to 100,000 GBP to trial its Auto-Shuttle® autonomous electric vehicle at Portsmouth International Port under the next phase of the Freight Innovation Fund.
The company previously received a 10,000 GBP Accelerator grant to conduct a feasibility study for the project. The additional funding will support the deployment of the vehicle in a live port environment, with trials expected to begin in December 2026.
The Auto-Shuttle® will operate along a 1km portside route, transporting people, baggage and freight. The trial will assess whether Aurrigo’s autonomous technology can operate safely and reliably alongside other traffic in a working seaport.
The project will allow Aurrigo to explore applications for its autonomous vehicle technology beyond airports, where it already has deployments in six countries.
Richard Fairchild, Chief Operations Officer at Aurrigo International, said:Our autonomous vehicles are already transforming how airports operate in six countries and now is the right time to bring that technology to seaports. A live seaport is a similar environment to an airport, with operations traffic of all sizes, pedestrians, and additionally public traffic and demand that shifts with ferry and cruise turnarounds.
This is an exciting challenge which could lead to Auto-Shuttle® carrying passengers at ports around the world and open the door to our larger Auto-Cargo® vehicle at freight-focused ports.
The trial is expected to help assess the potential for deploying Aurrigo’s autonomous technology across the ports sector and other markets.
