At the foot of the Tianshan Mountains, a key hub on the Silk Road, on July 28, 2026, the "Smart Silk Road Gateway, Innovating the Future of the Industry" autonomous airport passenger shuttle line officially launched. This marks the beginning of commercial operations for autonomous passenger shuttles at Chinese civil aviation airports. The event was jointly organized by the Xinjiang Airport Group, Yutong Bus, and Guochi Intelligent Control (Tsinghua Science and Technology Innovation Team). As the aerial gateway to the core area of the Silk Road Economic Belt, Urumqi Tianshan International Airport has now welcomed 16 customised Yutong autonomous passenger shuttles for large-scale operation, representing the latest practice in large domestic hub airport apron-scale autonomous passenger transport and opening a new chapter in smart airport operations for China's civil aviation industry.
The General Manager of Xinjiang Airport Group, Lv Huibin, stated: "Today, as autonomous shuttles enter the apron, it is not only the 'first implementation' of autonomous driving for passenger-facing scenarios at Chinese civil airports but also an important milestone in serving national strategies and fulfilling corporate responsibility through technological innovation."
01 Tackling High-Difficulty Apron Scenarios with Custom Development for Safe Operations
Compared to city roads and industrial parks, the airport apron is an "extreme testing ground" for autonomous driving. The road standards in airport flight zones differ significantly from public roads, signals are easily obstructed by terminals and aircraft bodies, and non-standard service vehicles frequently cross paths, creating large perception blind spots and complex operating conditions. Compounding this are harsh environmental influences like sandstorms and strong light, as well as the airport's demands for high operational efficiency and passenger comfort, which have long hindered the large-scale application of autonomous driving in airport scenarios.
To solve the challenges of autonomous driving operations in the special apron environment, Yutong Bus, in collaboration with Guochi Intelligent Control (Tsinghua Science and Technology Innovation Team) and other relevant units, has systematically tackled the technical difficulties. As Cong Wei, General Manager of Guochi Intelligent Control, explained: "Over the past two years, both teams have been rooted on the front line, working side-by-side, comprehensively optimising everything from vehicle architecture to mass production testing, to create a 'mass-produced autonomous shuttle.'" In terms of perception, a large amount of apron-specific data was collected to train a scene-specific visual model, improving target ranging and contour recognition accuracy under conditions like sandstorms and low light, ensuring the vehicle can clearly distinguish between people and obstacles. In terms of dispatching, a cloud-controlled system enables flexible scheduling based on flight passenger flow and multi-vehicle coordination, achieving higher operational efficiency than single-vehicle solutions. This ensures the autonomous driving can perform functions such as autonomous obstacle avoidance, blind spot warning, precise start-stop, and intelligent courtesy at intersections.
Wu Xiaoling, Technical Director of Yutong Bus, said: "To create the world's first autonomous passenger shuttle for commercial deployment on a civil aviation airport apron, we carried out deep customised development, combined with a highly intelligent system, to fully meet the specific needs of the airport scenario." Regarding the product, the project uses a Yutong 12-meter high-end pure electric bus. Its smaller turning radius allows it to navigate the narrow spaces of the apron with ease. Addressing the airport's safety concerns, the vehicle is equipped with a 350kWh battery using a cage-type safety structure and ultra-high-strength anti-collision guardrails to ensure battery safety. The liquid cooling and liquid heating technology is highly adaptable to Xinjiang's extreme high and low temperatures, meeting the demands of all-day operations. Additionally, design elements such as a driver-passenger separation partition and dual-circuit brake redundancy fully account for safety margins.
02 10,000 Kilometers with Zero Accidents Validating Commercial Scale-Up Reliability
This autonomous driving route covers the journey from the departure level of Xinjiang Tianshan Airport to remote parking stands and from remote stands to the domestic arrivals level. The vehicles operate at a normal speed of 25 km/h, with a maximum of 50 km/h. In the scene with frequent road intersections and heavy service vehicle traffic on the apron, the vehicle can dynamically adjust its speed and driving strategy in real-time, improving shuttle service punctuality and operational stability. To meet civil aviation safety standards, Yutong's product incorporates a load-adaptive braking system, precisely calibrating emergency deceleration to balance collision avoidance safety with ride comfort. Furthermore, the vehicle is equipped with a large-screen interactive system that displays the driving route, stops, speed, and estimated arrival time in real-time, making the autonomous driving journey visible and understandable for passengers, enhancing their sense of security. To date, the autonomous passenger shuttle project has completed over 10,000 kilometers of no-load durability testing and passenger-carrying trial operations, serving over 4,300 passengers with zero safety incidents. Xinjiang Airport Group had previously established a fleet of unmanned vehicles covering passenger connections, baggage sorting, and transport. The large-scale commercial deployment of these autonomous shuttles further enriches the airport's smart operations landscape.
03 Silk Road Gateway Breakthrough, New Application for Chinese High-End Manufacturing
From breaking the monopoly of imports to achieve domestic production in 2008, to transitioning to pure electric vehicles in 2015 and exporting to countries like Spain, the UK, and Morocco, and now to the large-scale commercial use of autonomous driving in airport scenarios in 2026, Yutong has completed a leap in the airport shuttle field from catching up to running alongside, and then to scenario innovation. The three-party collaboration in this project focused on overcoming challenges such as the wide variety and large spans of apron operation vehicles and the complex interaction rules without traffic lights, filling a domestic gap in the autonomous and controllable large-scale application of intelligent connected commercial vehicles in civil aviation special passenger transport scenarios. It has completed the industry verification loop from "technology can run" to "commercial reliability." As of now, Yutong autonomous buses are operating regularly in cities like Zhengzhou, Guangzhou, Tianjin, and Shijiazhuang, with a cumulative operation of over 18 million kilometers, covering scenarios including urban public transport, scenic area and park shuttles, airport transfers, and business reception. With the large-scale commercial deployment of 16 autonomous shuttles at Urumqi Tianshan International Airport, a key aerial gateway connecting Asia and Europe, this not only revolutionises traditional ground transport modes but also provides a replicable reference model for the smart transformation of civil aviation nationwide, showcasing China's high-end manufacturing technical strength to the world at the Silk Road gateway.
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