PUBLISHED ONJanuary 20, 2026 8:41 AMBYDana LeongChangi Airport has deployed its first pair of autonomous vehicles (AVs) to transport passenger bags between Terminal 1 and Terminal 4 baggage handling areas.
Launched on Tuesday (Jan 20) by Senior Minister of State for Transport Sun Xueling, the driverless tractors are a milestone in the airport's push for innovation and operational efficiency.
The tractors have undergone nearly a year of rigorous trials covering more than 5,000 test trips, and have more than 10 sensors and cameras to navigate complex airside environments in all conditions, Changi Airport Group (CAG) said in a statement.
At the same time, the AVs are also monitored remotely from a control centre, where an operator can step in immediately should human intervention be required.
CAG said more autonomous tractors will be deployed to tow cargo and equipment, in addition to baggage.
There are currently plans to deploy six more tractors to a different route between Terminal 2's baggage handling area and aircraft stands later this year.
The fleet will be expanded to 24 vehicles by 2027, CAG said.
The automated tractors are part of Changi Airport's wider strategy to integrate autonomous technology into airside operations and redesign the job scopes of airside staff.
By automating the task of driving, airside workers can focus on last mile operations that require more skills and are more difficult to replace with technology.
"The operationalisation of our autonomous tractors today represents a huge step forward for Changi Airport, as we move towards our vision of the airside of the future," said Liu Yanling, CAG's senior vice-president of airport operations strategy and transformation.
With innovations such as the driverless tractors, CAG can redesign and upgrade the job scopes of airside workers to improve their productivity, which will be critical in meeting the operational requirements of Terminal 5 by the mid-2030s.
Based on the Aviation Jobs Transformation Report released in July 2025, up to 30 per cent of the existing workforce could experience job redesign and transformation over the next five years, majority of them in the ground handling sector.
Angela Ng, director of aviation industry at the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS), said: "The scaled deployment of autonomous tractors allows CAAS, CAG, Sats and our unions to work together to implement the technology, develop new systems and protocols and set up job redesign programmes to help our workers adopt technology and transition to higher-value work."
The scaled deployment of AVs will thus be useful to the aviation sector's wider technology adoption and job transformation efforts, said Ng.
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