Forward march of robots continues – London Gatwick Airport robot parking trial

LONDON — While inventors of self-driving cars are still battling with the moral dilemmas of choosing who to hit when a car is headed for a collision, London's second busiest airport Gatwick is gearing up to use futuristic robots to park cars in its long term car park thereby doubling its parking capacity. Motorists will entrust their cars to Stan who will pack cars like sardines in a can until your return. Shopping, paying for parking, calling for information, banking and other ordinary daily chores with no human contact unless things go horribly wrong is becoming a daily reality not only for people living abroad, but also for South Africans who are used to many keen workers around them. Stan raises a number of questions, do we trust him not to have a bug or can he be hacked and cause a really big pile-up and if a version is rolled out in South Africa, many may not miss the car guards, but it does represent another step in the forward march of the robots to take the jobs of humans. – Linda van Tilburg

By Thulasizwe Sithole

Gatwick Airport has submitted plans to its local planning council to use futuristic robots to park people's cars in a pilot project that could be in operation by August this year.  The airport will launch the pilot scheme in the long stay car park for three months at its South terminal at the height of the European summer when thousands of Brits leave for their annual holidays.

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