This story is supplemental content to the Courier's list of best-selling vehicles.
A Silicon Valley and South Korean-born startup that is now headquartered in Over-the-Rhine and has a key partnership with Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport expects to announce deals with three customers later this year to use its driverless technology for ground support vehicles.
ThorDrive expects to launch two partnerships in the first quarter of this year and a third in the second quarter, said Eddie Shelton, the company’s vice president for business development.
“We’re beyond just being a cool tool. This is being applied for business efficiency. Our customers expect a return on investment,” Shelton said.
The company’s technology can be installed on existing vehicles, such as those that move baggage from airplanes to the terminal. Such vehicles can be run with or without a human driver overseeing it; without one, a kill switch can stop the vehicle remotely. “We have run completely autonomously,” Shelton said.
ThorDrive has been testing its proof of concept at CVG throughout the pandemic, which, in a bit of serendipity, allowed the company to test its products on the airfield and in empty parking lots shuttered because of Covid-19. The technology recognizes airplanes and other vehicles it might encounter on the airfield, as well as in routes and intersections. “We’ve generated quite a bit of interest with both cargo and passenger airlines,” Shelton said.
ThorDrive was founded in 2016, with roots in Seoul and entered the United States via Silicon Valley in 2018. It launched a last-mile delivery product for a handful of small businesses in Palo Alto. Ohio officials and CVG officials recruited it at the same time as a part of their efforts to drive innovation.
ThorDrive cannot yet reveal who its first customers will be and where they are located, but Shelton said “We are very advantageously located.”ThorDrive believes it can save its customers money in the long term. The aviation industry loses about $4 billion on ground accidents worldwide each year. And that doesn’t include the potential fuel and efficiency savings from autonomous vehicles.
Brian Cobb, CVG’s chief innovation officer, said the airport believes such technology will help the airlines that it serves save money but also deal with ongoing labor shortages in the industry. For example, instead of having someone drive baggage around, a person instead could be hired for a customer-facing role.
“In our environment, it’s the perfect driver,” Cobb said, adding that the vehicles observe speed limits and don’t slide through stop signs. “It’s the wear and tear on the actual vehicle. You’ll start seeing fuel savings, whether it’s fueled by fossil fuels or a battery.”
CVG has had to reassure employees it isn’t trying to replace them, Cobb said. CVG also uses robots to clean floors and serve some concessions.“There are labor challenges. We simply don’t have enough staff,” Cobb said. “We’re the only airport in the world to have an autonomous tug operating around people and aircraft.”
ThorDrive employs 34 in Cincinnati, up from 11 nearly a year ago, with another 40 to 45 in South Korea.
