Passengers could be taken to their planes at Gatwick Airport on driverless buses

Driverless buses could soon be used to take passengers to their planes at Gatwick Airport, it has been reported.

In what would be the world’s first autonomous shuttle service, travellers would be carried from the terminal to their flights on buses without a driver.

The Times reported that Gatwick will being a six-month trial of the vehicles this summer in a bid to cut costs and improve safety.

Initially, the trial will focus on the north and south terminals and no passengers or planes will be involved.

But if the trial is a success, Gatwick could implement the scheme to include passenger buses and pushback tugs, which steer planes to and from the terminal.

Almost 45 million passengers go through Gatwick Airport each year.

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The trial is being run by Oxford-based software company Oxbotica and is thought to be the first of its kind.

Heathrow already uses driverless pods on a fixed network between a car park and Terminal 5.

Cathal Corcoran, chief information officer at Gatwick, told The Times: “If this trial proves successful, we could have an Uber-like service operating across the airfield which staff can hail when they need to travel.

“Much more research will be needed, but ultimately this could be the start of widespread use of autonomous vehicles on airfields across the world.

“The new technology is a more efficient way to manage vehicles and could lead to a reduction in the number of vehicles required, their associated costs and harmful emissions.”

It could mean about 300 vehicles at Gatwick becoming autonomous.

Graeme Smith, Oxbotica chief executive, said: “Airports offer an interesting domain for our autonomous driving software.

“There is a huge diversity of vehicles, each with a specific mission.

“The challenge of choreographing all of the activity around an individual plane or in support of airport operations is immense and we look forward to working with Gatwick on this initial pilot that will demonstrate our technology carrying staff around the airfield.”