WATCH: Sea-Tac Airport’s self-driving wheelchairs are getting stymied by unexpected obstacles
Walking through Sea-Tac International Airport this week, I noticed a self-driving, electric wheelchair, on its way back through the concourse after taking a passenger to a gate. Recalling from GeekWire’s prior coverage that it was part of a test deployment, I decided to follow along and record video, to see how it did.
The answer: not so great!
"Excuse me, please step aside." Autonomous wheelchair encounters unexpected obstacle at @SeaTacAirport. Explanation from @AlaskaAir here: https://t.co/tqQ8dFC1Nt pic.twitter.com/85jJ6IzH7B
— toddbishop (@toddbishop) November 5, 2024
At one point in its journey, the autonomous mobility device was stopped in its tracks by a short yellow tent and bucket, marking a wet floor.
“Excuse me, please step aside,” the wheelchair said repeatedly, until a human nearby took mercy on the machine and removed the obstacles. (I was determined not to intervene, just to see what would happen.)
An Alaska Airlines spokesperson explained via email:
“This is a safety feature. The WHILL chairs are mapped so they have a ‘lane’ they take to each approved point. Temporary obstacles are detected by the sensors, which trigger a standard response. Of course, this is generally a person or their belongings and not an unattended object.”
Turns out this is a known issue, previously documented here.
The wheelchairs are made by Whill, based in California and Japan. The company has been rolling out its devices for test programs as well as regular use at multiple airports in the U.S. and abroad.