RoboCar Tractor 25T Officially Commercializes Level-4 Autonomous Transport at Haneda Airport

AiRo Corporation, ROBO-HI, and Marubeni partner to commercialize Level-4 autonomous transport at Haneda Airport with four RoboCar Tractor 25T units.

AiRo Corporation — a joint venture between ROBO-HI Corporation and Marubeni Corporation — together with Japan Airlines Co., Ltd. (JAL), is pleased to announce the start of commercial operation of a Level-4 autonomous cargo-transport system inside the restricted area of Tokyo International Airport (Haneda Airport). This is the first such case in Japan, using the "RoboCar® Tractor 25T" autonomous tow tractor developed by ROBO-HI.

▼ RoboCar AGV 50T, RoboCar AGV 100T/150T Website: https://www.robo-hi.jp/robocar/robocar-agv

BACKGROUND AND OVERVIEW OF THE COMMERCIALIZATION

Against the backdrop of labor shortages and the urgent need to improve airport operational efficiency, AiRo — in collaboration with JAL — has successfully commercialized the RoboCar Tractor 25T, an autonomous tow tractor optimized for unattended driverless operation in safety-critical airport environments.

The RoboCar Tractor 25T is equipped with "IZAC", a highly reliable autonomous-driving system built on ROBO-HI's (formerly ZMP's) extensive experience in autonomous vehicles and on-road service robots. The vehicle is built on an EV tow-tractor platform supplied by WEIHAI GUANGTAI AIRPORT EQUIPMENT CO., LTD., a manufacturer of airport ground support equipment (GSE), and achieves fully unattended Level-4 autonomous driving*. Connected to ROBO-HI's multi-vendor robot platform "ROBO-HI® OS", the tractor performs traffic coordination synchronized with the airport's camera system. In collaboration with JAL, the vehicle has gone through multiple rounds of real-world operational testing. After review by the Civil Aviation Bureau of Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, the RoboCar Tractor 25T has been officially approved for unattended Level-4 autonomous operation within the airport's restricted area.

* Autonomous driving includes two forms:

Infrastructure-dependent (magnetic nails, wires, markings mounted on the road surface, etc.).
Fully autonomous — no road modification required, using only sensors mounted on the vehicle.

FUTURE DEVELOPMENT DIRECTION

Because no infrastructure modifications are required, the RoboCar Tractor 25T significantly reduces the time and cost of adding or changing operating routes. Through ROBO-HI OS, a single remote operator can manage up to 10 vehicles while unifying safety management across autonomous and manually driven vehicles from multiple manufacturers. This allows the system to serve as a comprehensive fleet-management platform, improving overall efficiency of vehicle operations at the airport in the future.

ROBO-HI and AiRo will continue to drive autonomous-driving solutions built on this commercialization model, accelerating digital transformation (DX) and automation in the airport sector. In parallel, ROBO-HI will extend applications to large-scale intralogistics such as factories and warehouses, contributing to automation and efficiency gains for society as a whole.