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November 21, 2009 – Vol.14 No.35 Ricardo “TaxiBot" Concept Tows Aircraft to Runway, Cuts Fuel, Emissions. Taxiing to and from the airport terminal gate and runway is a major source of CO2 emissions. Aircraft are currently required to use their main propulsion jet engines in a highly inefficient manner for slow speed ground movements; the consequence is greater local air and noise pollution, as well as wasted fuel and hence increased carbon emissions. Ricardo has successfully engineered and delivered a demonstrator robotic, pilot-controlled towing vehicle known as 'TaxiBot' for Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). The TaxiBot concept is capable of operating with both wide and narrow bodied commercial airliners; it requires no modification to the aircraft, taxiways or runways, and only minor changes to airport infrastructure.
TaxiBot grabs the aircraft nosewheel, lets aircraft pilot drive to takeoff runway without running fuel-guzzling engines. Ricardo has been working for the past 15 months with IAI to develop the Taxibot concept. After an initial feasibility study, Ricardo developed a detailed program for IAI to take the concept to the level of a working demonstrator vehicle with full capability. Ricardo's involvement in this work included requirements capture, conceptual design and detailed specification design, manufacture and demonstration of the first TaxiBot demonstrator vehicle.
Following the successful build and initial testing of the first vehicle, IAI has now signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Airbus Industries and a Memorandum of Agreement with international ground support equipment provider TLD, covering the next stages of development of the Taxibot concept. After further testing and development, Taxibot has the potential to play a highly significant role in the reduction of fuel costs and emissions. According to IAI and Airbus, taxiing at airports using the aircraft's main engines results in a huge consumption of fuel (forecasted to cost around $7 billion by 2012), a large emission of CO2 (approximately 18m tonnes per year), and a significant source of foreign object debris damage (costing around $350 million per year). Ricardo, Inc., the US subsidiary of Ricardo plc, the leading independent provider of technology, product innovation and engineering solutions to the world's automotive, defense, transport and new energy industries. (11/18/09)
Links: Ricardo TaxiBot (press release)
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