Lyon Airports to welcome new robotic car parking service

For the first time in the world, Stanley Robotics’ outdoor automated robotic valet system, developed in partnership with Aéroports de Lyon, will be offered on a large scale to airport passengers in the coming weeks: 500 spaces will soon be available in car park P5+ at Lyon-Saint Exupéry airport, with four autonomous robots operating simultaneously and 12 cabins to accommodate and return vehicles.

This innovative system is perfectly in line with VINCI Airports’ and Aéroports de Lyon’s innovation strategy: better managing flows and improving the experience for passengers, whilst controlling environmental impacts.

The genesis of the project began in July 2017, with the announcement of the partnership between Stanley Robotics and Aéroports de Lyon/VINCI Airports to deploy robotic valet technology at Lyon-Saint Exupéry airport and meet the growing need for parking spaces. At the beginning of 2018, the service was created on the Airport’s P5+ car park and these first months of validated testing enabled a new phase of the trial to be reached by the end of March 2019, with the expansion of the system to 500 spaces. The objective is naturally, to continue the development and further increase the capacity of this innovative car park. At the end stage, this system could represent up to 2000 additional spaces and extend to more than 6000 spaces in total.

A seamless passenger experience

With this new automated parking system, no more time is wasted searching for an available space or looking for your vehicle. After booking a parking space on the Lyon Airport website with a few clicks, the passenger can drop their vehicle in a dedicated cabin, then reach the terminals via the shuttle located in the immediate vicinity. The valet robot then picks up the car and parks it in the secure parking lot. Upon returning from a trip the passenger recovers their available vehicle in one of the cabins. There are multiple advantages: security, simplicity and time saving, with the online reservation of a parking space, pick-up / drop-off of the vehicle at a single point. 

Limiting greenfield development and reducing emissions: a sustainable innovation

Aéroports de Lyon has experienced a significant increase in traffic for several years. To control the environmental impact of this development, the company has taken strong measures, notably by depoying VINCI Airports’ AirPact programme and obtaining two major certifications: ACA 3+ carbon neutrality (Airport Carbon Accreditation) and exemplary energy management (ISO 50001). The robotic valet project developed with Stanley Robotics is part of this sustainable vision:

• It reduces the footprint by eventually creating 50 per cent more spaces in the same surface area through increased parking density and block parking. The integrity of the surrounding soils is thus preserved
• It limits CO₂ emissions by eliminating passenger vehicle traffic on parking lots. The robots operate with an electric motor that does not emit CO₂. A centre of excellence in VINCI Airports’ integrated innovation strategy As the second largest regional airport in France, Aéroports de Lyon is heavily involved in experimenting and developing innovative projects.

Nicolas Notebaert, Chief Executive Officer of VINCI Concessions and Chairman of VINCI Airports, said: “In an increasingly open world, mobility is increasing. For us, transport infrastructure operators, this represents a daily challenge: to serve more and more passengers without compromising on the quality of their experience and with a sense of sustainability. To solve this equation, we use the potential of new technologies to improve fluidity and quality across our network. With this new initiative, we are confirming our commitment to continue shaping the mobility of the future.”

Tanguy Bertolus, CEO of Aéroports de Lyon, said: “Thanks to our innovative approach, Aéroports de Lyon has always been one step ahead in terms of customer experience and service quality. In 2018, Lyon-Saint Exupéry airport thus became the leading French airport in terms of customer satisfaction (European ASQ survey). The experimentation of the valet robot is completely in line with this logic of innovation to meet the continuous improvement requirements of Aéroports de Lyon and VINCI Airports.”

Clément Boussard, CEO of Stanley Robotics, commented: “We are proud to be leading this operation with Aéroports de Lyon, and to be able to present to the world, for the first time, the operation of Stanley Robotics’ outdoor valet robot service. We have designed the service to be the simplest and most enjoyable experience for the users. In addition, our solution meets the sustainable growth needs of our partners VINCI Airports and Aéroports de Lyon, which allows us to envisage long-term collaboration.”