Autonomous Following Wheelchair for Passengers with Reduced Mobility at Airports

The rising demand for assistance for passengers with reduced mobility (PRM) presents substantial challenges for airport operators. Meeting regulatory guidelines requires sufficient standby personnel, driving up operational costs and resulting in long wait times for passengers.
To address this, we introduce an autonomous electric wheelchair system that follows an operator, enabling a single operator to manage multiple wheelchairs simultaneously. This solution offers a cost-effective and scalable approach, as it does not require mapping or modifications of airport infrastructure.
This paper details our system's design, which allows us to operate autonomously, dependably, and safely in a highly dynamic airport environment. It incorporates a robust perception and navigation framework built upon off-the-shelf sensors and open-source software. We present experimental results from real-world trials conducted at a major European international airport, discuss the practical challenges encountered during deployment, and detail the solutions we found.