The Airport Authority said a driverless shuttle bus started running on Friday, carrying staff to work across the airport’s restricted area.

The bus can carry 14 passengers at a time and operates 12 hours a day.

Steven Yiu, executive director of airport operations, said only one such bus is in use at the moment, but more will be introduced in future.

“It is part of our smart airport initiative. The objective is not only saving manpower, [but also] increasing the efficiency and safety,” he said.

“We plan to increase the [number of] autonomous vehicles to five to ten in the near future.”

Yiu added that the authority is planning to use driverless vehicles to carry air passengers to and from the airport, SKYCITY and Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge border facilities by next year.

The airport has used autonomous driving technology since 2019, with patrol cars and tractors that deliver luggage and cargo.