Xinjiang Airport Group

UISEE's Autonomous Electric Tractor T30 and Autonomous Shuttle Bus B19 helped Xinjiang Airport Group build mainland China’s largest airport autonomous fleet, achieving full-chain cargo and staff transport operations at -25°C.

Background

The Civil Aviation Administration's "Action Plan for Promoting Four-Type Airport Construction" explicitly called for "improving airport operational efficiency and safety levels through intelligent means." In this context, UISEE and Urumqi Airport established a strategic pertnership, exploring innovative autonomous driving application for airside operations. At the end of 2021, 5 Autonomous Electric Tractor began all-weather logistics operations within the airport. By the end of 2025, a total of 40 Autonomous Electric Tractor and 20 Autonomous Shuttle Bus B19 vehicles formed mainland China's largest airport autonomous vehicle fleet, building a new benchmark for smart aviation.

Challenges

Safety Hazards: Manual driving poses safety risks. Monotonous driving environments make drivers extremely susceptible to fatigue, irritability, and lapses in attention, significantly increasing human factor risks.

Workforce Gap: A persistent shortage of drivers exists, with difficult recruitment, long training cycles, and high labor costs.

Uneven Capacity Allocation: transport resources are often unevenly allocated across operational areas, with sharp operational efficiency drops under Xinjiang's extreme weather and frequent cargo backlog issues.

Solution

Deployed: 40 Autonomous Electric Tractor T30, 20 Autonomous Shuttle Bus B19

Technology Highlights: U-Drive® Intelligent Driving System (Gen 5); Operations & Maintenance System; C-V2X Vehicle-to-Infrastructure Communication (linked with airport traffic lights); Dispatch System

Impact

Safe and Controlled Autonomous Driving Technology System: The world's first to achieve sustained L4 operations at -25°C, breaking through multiple technical bottlenecks.

Full-Chain Apron Operations Coverage: As the end of 2025, the 40-tractor fleet has accumulated over 140,000 km, completed 130,000 trailer transfers, and served over 50,000 flights.

Deep Integration into Core Cargo Processes: Handles over 90% of cargo transfer tasks, reducing costs, improving efficiency, and cutting carbon — saving RMB 1.35 million in annual labor costs and reducing carbon emissions by 15%.

Industry Demonstration: Selected for multiple industry demonstration cases, providing a benchmark for intelligent airports in extreme cold regions and a proven reference model for autonomous driving deployment for belt and road countries.