At a stop outside of Milton Keynes train station, a navy-blue shuttle bus comes into view. At first glance, there is nothing out of the ordinary about the vehicle, apart from its compact size.
As it moves closer, however, its defining feature becomes clear: the absence of a driver.
The Ohmio LIFT is an autonomous shuttle designed for first mile, last mile transport and low-speed operations. It has applications at airports, both landside and airside, as well as on public roads.
With its autonomous capabilities made possible through a combination of sensors, cameras and a pre-programmed route, the vehicle has already been trialled at airports in Europe, notably Amsterdam Schiphol, where it transported cabin crew between aircraft and KLM headquarters.
By operating several vehicles in convoy, the technology could also one day be used to ferry passengers between the aircraft and terminal. Ohmio’s deployment at JFK Airport sees the shuttles running in a platoon, digitally connected behind one main vehicle.
In the UK, the technology is currently being tested as a public transport solution in urban environments. In collaboration with the city council, Smart City Consultancy and other partners, the company ran trials of the Ohmio LIFT throughout March on public roads in Milton Keynes, which hosts the UK headquarters of the New Zealand company.
Milton Keynes’ design as a purpose-built city has garnered it a reputation as a test-bed for technological innovation, including the StreetCAV Plus project. According to Ian Pulford, Director of Ohmio UK and Smart City Consultancy, the majority of feedback from the trial has been positive. “We do have an advantage in Milton Keynes, as people expect to see robots here,” he says.
As well as allowing members of the public to try the shuttles for themselves, the trial provided researchers with information about how the vehicles navigate in different traffic conditions.
“We’re also interested in deploying shuttles in an airport environment. We already have deployments at Schiphol, Brussels and others,” says Pulford.
“From a UK perspective, our primary focus has been on business parks, new developments and city centres, but if we see an opportunity in the airport space, we would happily address and support it.
“The best use case for the vehicles has been transporting teams of people like air or cleaning crews – the size of our vehicle is good for that.”
Inside the shuttle
Running between Milton Keynes Central Station and Hotel La Tour, the shuttles operated along a fixed loop through the city centre, interacting with live traffic along the way. With eight seats, the shuttle was compact without feeling too cramped.
The drive was smooth – in fact, the absence of a driver was hardly noticeable – and though the vehicle is only capable of operating up to 25 miles per hour, it did not feel too slow.
A joystick is located at the front of the vehicle, allowing safety drivers to take control if needed, while a live LiDAR map on the wall displays the route and the built environment around the shuttle.
Moreover, a camera live streams the interior of the vehicle to a remote control room, ensuring that staff can monitor passenger activity.
At one point, while approaching a roundabout, the shuttle stopped sharply to let a vehicle pass, and it became clear why every passenger is required to wear a seatbelt. It was, however, reassuring to know that the vehicle has a quick reaction time.
Passengers were dropped off at Centre:MK for a visit of the Smart City Experience Centre, where various digital innovations are publicly exhibited – including an Ohmio shuttle.
Among the most well-known of the humanoid robots on display is Pepper, a robot assistant which has been trialled at several airports since its development in 2014.
Achieving commercial viability
This research forms part of the roadmap that will lead to Ohmio securing permission to remove safety drivers from the autonomous shuttles, which it envisions will happen following changes in UK law set to take place in late 2026 or early 2027.
“Firstly, the government needs to agree that it is happy for us to run the service without a safety driver on board – that means we need to prove that our vehicle is safer than a normal driver,” says Pulford. “If we can move to that stage, we can have commercially viable services.
“We also need to develop technology to connect to the vehicle so that we can oversee it and support the passengers without a safety driver on board.
“There is also work to be done around the operational service, like ensuring we can still help disabled people get onto the vehicle.”
The control room
The vehicles are monitored from a city centre control room, where multiple screens display the shuttles in real time as they navigate the roads.
Staff can take over the controls and drive the vehicles remotely, as well as talk to passengers through an intercom, adding an extra layer of safety.
Control room staff, including recent master’s graduates from Cranfield University, demonstrated how the vehicles are monitored through the use of several cameras and sensors.
They also discussed some operational challenges, such as latency; the Wi-Fi infrastructure currently in place does not always deliver the high data speeds required to maintain a precise, real-time view of the vehicle.
Pulford explains that once the vehicles become a permanent fixture offering a commercial service in the city, a number of solutions are available, such as the installation of 5G radios on street furniture.
“We should be able to get a good performing network from BT,” he says. “They can give us a network slice, which will guarantee bandwidth at a certain latency.
“If their networks are not available from the public side, we could then get our own private network and deploy it.
“We will make sure that the technology, the radios, and the connectivity is all there.”
There is also the question of security – how can bad behaviour be prevented without the physical presence of a driver?
“You could say the same thing about people running on train lines, or otherwise doing things that they shouldn’t do,” Pulford points out.
“There’s always an element of people trying to look big and prove things. We have to try and minimise that and show that the service is valuable to people and it is a positive thing.
“We have cameras all around the vehicle and links to local authorities. Alongside the control room, we could also have an inspector moving between one shuttle to another during the evenings.”
The roadmap to autonomy
Back at Hotel La Tour, an event hosted by Milton Keynes council shed further light on the trial and what it could mean for the future of autonomous vehicles.
Pulford appeared on a panel featuring representatives from the city council, Innovate UK and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.
Councillor Shanika Mahendran, Cabinet Member for Planning & Placemaking in Milton Keynes, said: “It’s been fantastic for us to see how connected autonomous vehicles can play a part in creating a joined up public transport system that works, giving us lessons for here in Milton Keynes, but also for across the country and more widely.”
The Automated Vehicles Act was passed in 2024, introducing a legal framework for self-driving vehicles in the UK, with more concrete details to come over the next few months.
Richard Morris, Innovation Lead – Autonomous and Connected Vehicles at Innovate UK, the UK’s national innovation agency, said: “I don’t think it’s going to be a case of we wake up one day and the roads are full of autonomous vehicles. Life is not like that.
“It will be a gradual progression starting this year, because the technology is there. The legislation has been a little bit slower than we hoped, but it’s going to be coming.”
