Gatwick Airport have begun their rollout of robotic car parking, encouraging passengers to entrust their vehicles with some of the most advanced tech in the country.
To use the new service, passengers will need to drive up to a garage close to the South Terminal, scan a QR code, park up in their own dedicated 'parking suite' before leaving to catch their flights. A robot vehicle then drives up to the car, lifting it up and taking it away to an outdoor parking space. Once passengers return from their holiday, the system receives an alert that they have landed, and by the time they have finished with passport control and baggage collection, their vehicle should be ready to collect from where it was left.
The valet service will cost around £109 for a five-day stay and is available on weekdays between 9am and 5pm. Gatwick is already exploring expanding the service to include weekends but if passengers do suffer delays, then they can arrange to collect their car out of hours.
However, around 5% of cars will not be compatible with the valet service, with vehicles such as the Range Rover Sport Hybrid and Renault Trafic Van being incompatible - as well as sports cars with low underbody height and SUVs with roof boxes.
The electronic valet service has been created in partnership with Stanley Robotics. Oli Bedford, Head of Airport Access, Marketing and Commercial Products at London Gatwick, described the technology as a game changer for the passenger experience.
The launch comes after a huge inferno destroyed around 140 cars at a third-party car park close to Gatwick last month - with more than 2,000 homes losing power after the fire damaged high-voltage equipment near the car park.