Zurich Airport: Autonomous Shuttle Bus and Passenger Bus Powered by Solar Diesel
With the first passenger bus at Zurich Airport powered by Synhelion's solar diesel , another milestone has been reached on the road to more sustainable transport solutions. For the first time, a passenger bus at Zurich Airport was powered by solar diesel from Synhelion's DAWN plant.
The fuel is fully compatible with existing engines and infrastructure. Synhelion has thus demonstrated that the technology is ready for implementation and the subsequent scalability phase.
The bus was refueled with a 190-liter barrel of solar diesel mixture, enough for about twelve days of operation.
The renewable synthetic fuel comes from Synhelion's DAWN industrial demonstration plant in Jülich, Germany. Zurich Airport recognized the potential of solar fuels early on and has been supporting Synhelion in expanding its technology since 2020. In addition to the decarbonisation of buildings and infrastructure, the airport's net-zero strategy for 2040 focuses primarily on the electrification of its vehicle fleet.
In addition, autonomous shuttle buses reach level 3 with remote monitoring in preparation. The pilot project with autonomous shuttle buses at Zurich Airport has reached another milestone: after the successful test drives without passengers, employees have been able to use airport buses since June. At this stage of the project, the presence of a safety driver is still required. The next step will be to test the use of buses with remote monitoring.
Since September, a remote cockpit has been installed and tested at the ZRH Innovation Hub in the Circle. In the future, vehicles will be monitored remotely from this center. If a vehicle encounters an unexpected obstacle, it stops automatically. Employees in the remote cockpit can assess the situation and provide assistance with driving manoeuvres if necessary. Initially, these trips will be made without passengers.
After a trial phase, the buses at Zurich Airport can then be operated autonomously with passengers on board. Zurich would thus be the first airport in Europe to operate such a system in the flight area of operations.
