Continuing Airside’s coverage of autonomous vehicle technology, Øveraasen spin-out Yeti Move outlines its four-part plan to introduce driverless vehicles to snow clearance operations. Boasting an innovative autonomous solution, the company has its sights on ground handling operations next, writes William Hallowell
Yeti Move asserts itself as a leader in enabling autonomous snow clearance machines. Founded in 2015 by Øveraasen and Semcon, originally as Yeti Snow Technology, the company soon became Yeti Move (short for ‘mission orientated vehicle ecosystem’) in 2020.
Today, its Yeti Autonomy Service Platform (YASP) offers airports a four-step solution towards automating their snow clearance vehicles and operations: Planning and Simulation, Insight, Driver Assist and Autonomy.
Its philosophy? “To be OEM independent, which means any type of machine or equipment can be controlled by our software provided that the equipment supplier is open to integrate,” say project managers Glenn Levi Nilssen and Halvor Janner Røed.
“What we’re most famous for is creating an autonomous snow removal solution. We can automate any airport’s snow operations around the world,” Nilssen adds.
Together with Øveraasen, the company has collaborated with Nordic airport operators Swedavia and Avinor to conduct autonomous snow clearance trials.
The four-part plan
Providing precision path planning, equipment configuration management, historical data input and a real-time replica of how operations unfold airside, Yeti Move’s Planning and Simulation service aims to streamline operations “from day one”.
“Using our platform provides airports with the ability to both plan and instantly simulate a variety of real-world tasks… enabling operators to evaluate current and new operational concepts, get accurate time predictions and improve communication and co-ordination across teams and stakeholders,” the company promises customers.
A screenshot of Yeti Move’s Driver Assist solution in action
Second, is Insight, the main function of which is data collection – including positions, speed and vehicle status. “This is where we’re able to, using our Planning and Simulation tool, replay operations and analyse them,” explains Nilssen.
“We do this to help airports improve their operations from day to day and learn [how to streamline their processes] with experience. If there are any incidents, for example, we are able to do improved incident analysis by examining all logged data in combination with our replay function.”
Insight’s data collection and analysis functions enable airports to make informed decisions and plan proactive maintenance. It visualises the precise location of each vehicle in a fleet on an interactive map that helps users to monitor movements, track assets in real-time and provide increased situational awareness to any observer, the company says.
With Insight, airports can also analyse data to assess the historical performance of snow clearance fleets to ascertain trends, make forecasts and plan operations “with confidence”.
Yeti Move stresses that these services, whilst they begin the process of enabling autonomous operations, are not exclusive to airports who want to – eventually – go driverless. The Norwegian company offers these products as standalone solutions to any airport looking to streamline its snow clearance operations.
Once users are familiar with these tools, they can integrate Yeti Move’s Driver Assist. This third step is “meticulously engineered to complement our Planning and Simulation software”, the company says.
The main features of Driver Assist include guided navigation, track adherence, equipment instructions, enhanced situational awareness and the enablement of low-visibility operations.
Meanwhile, Driver Assist Plus benefits users with automated equipment adjustments (taking automation to the “next level” by implementing equipment changes autonomously), reduced cognitive load and streamlined operator training, ensuring workforces become proficient to enhance operational efficiency.
Nilssen explains: “Obviously there will be a driver in each vehicle, but the threshold to do these complex operations is severely reduced.
Yeti Move says its services are not exclusive to airports who want to go autonomous
“Let’s say you want to renew your fleet. You may want to equip your new vehicles with driver assist or automation enabling systems from us.
“But we can add on the Driver Assist system to existing fleets by retrofitting it. Our Planning and Simulation tool, however, can be used from day one regardless of airports’ fleets.”
Yeti Move recently won a contract with Istanbul Airport to equip 18 machines with Driver Assist and is also in talks with a number of other airports today who are interested in the technology – which is also available to customers who want to enhance their operations without full automation.
“Not everyone wants fully automated operations – it’s not for them,” Nilssen outlines. “But as standalone products, Planning and Simulation, Insight and Driver Assist add operational value.”
Fourth and final is Autonomy, which is designed to harmonise the operation of multiple units incorporating a formation and speed controller to ensure synchronised and flexible operation of the fleet, Yeti Move claims. With Autonomy, operators are equipped with intelligent formation control, precision path following, speed control and customisable parameter setting abilities.
The company emphasises, however, that automation is the last step of its services. “We wouldn’t recommend airports to start with an autonomous fleet as part of their integration – even though that’s the most exciting part,” says Røed.
“Start with the digitalisation of operations first because the transition is long. It’s not just about technology, it’s about organisation.”
By doing so: “Airports will be able to see the next steps towards transitioning to full automation, such as, ‘Here is where we can save the most time’ and, ‘Here is where we can do operations more effectively.’”
Portfolio expansion
This is only the beginning of Yeti Move’s vision. “Even though we are currently focusing on winter operations, we want to add value to our customers all year round,” says Nilssen.
“Our Planning and Simulation tool can simulate a range of operations to give time estimates based on routes, patterns and speeds. We have also done trials with Valtra Tractors for a range of use cases and may in the future look further into airfield summer maintenance, such as airfield markings, summer sweeping or any other operation our customers want to optimise.”
Pictured: The Autonomy solution’s control interface
Being based in the Norwegian city of Drammen provides Yeti Move easy geographical access to the Nordic countries – which should prove useful given the region is one of the biggest markets where snow clearance is concerned. Yeti Move, however, has set its sights to the South on mainland Europe, where it believes business will grow fastest – and to the West where it will target North America very soon.
Nilssen expands: “So far this year we have been in dialogue with customers more or less on every continent. We will be a global player within the next few years who is not limited to snow but covering any type of automated or driver-assisted operations, and also not limited to simulated operations.”
Shifting operational needs
Post-Covid, Yeti Move says it has seen an increasing willingness from airports to invest in new arenas. “One of the things airports are looking at [improving] is ground operations,” Nilssen explains.
“What we’ve learned, in co-operation with Avinor and Swedavia in particular, is the big picture. Even if an airport buys a snow removal vehicle and automates it, that’s only a small piece of the puzzle.
“We want to help airports’ operations become more predictable. [This means] improving factors such as the repeatability of operations so that regardless of who is doing the job, the same thing can be expected over and over.”
This ensures minimal disruption to departing and arriving aircraft, keeping airports open.
Growth plans
In October this year Yeti Move announced that a group of investors had acquired a 75% stake in the company, with the remaining 25% to continue under ownership of employees as part of its share programme. The acquisition was made in a bid to boost growth as Yeti Move targets global expansion.
Christoffer Herheim, a representative for the investor group, said: “We are incredibly excited and look forward to taking Yeti Move global, together with the skilled and motivated employees… It is also incredibly impressive that the company, through hard work over many years, is now at the forefront of developing autonomous and driver-assisted systems.”
As a part of the acquisition, Yeti Move and Øveraasen have established a long-term collaboration agreement to continue their partnership on autonomous snow clearance solutions. The company said customers both new and existing will benefit from the acquisition.
