The vehicle, produced by Ohmio, is autonomous, electric and parts of it have been 3D printed. “The Kiwi Smart Shuttle can carry up to 15 adults, so may offer more possible uses for us across our campus in future. In the meantime, we will continue testing and learning to understand its capabilities,” said Christchurch Airport Chief Executive Malcolm Johns. Ohmio Executive Chairman, Mohammed Hikmet said the realisation of the first LIFT represented a real achievement for the company: “It is proof of our capability and realisation of our world-class driverless vehicle technology, pioneered in New Zealand. “We are very excited to partner with Christchurch Airport. Their vision to realise the future allows us to demonstrate Ohmio vehicles successfully operating as a first- and last-mile strategy in the airport context.” Christchurch Airport General Manager Corporate Affairs Michael Singleton, commented: “Our joint fully-autonomous vehicle trial continues, with the Ohmio LIFT proving this country is able to design and construct a vehicle made for our conditions. Collaborating with Ohmio means we have a technology partner and producer which is able to take the learnings from the trial to date and then adapt and enhance the vehicle to New Zealand needs. The focus of the trial remains on autonomy rather than a particular vehicle, and we look forward to continuing to explore how autonomous shuttles might play a part in our future at our airport.” The Kiwi Smart Shuttle will travel on public roads around the airport campus until the end of the week. Passengers can ride for free with collection times outside the terminal at 8:00am, 10:00am, 12:00pm and 2:00pm, running from June 24 to June 28.

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