Ah, the glamor of travel! Jetting off to exciting places, carrying pounds of luggage and goods… Oh wait, that luggage part isn’t very exciting, in fact, it is downright annoying. How many times have you looked forward to a trip, only to be exhausted and sore from lugging around a bunch of suitcases and bags? Unfortunately, that’s the reality of travel, and it is not glamorous.
But now you can relax a little and enjoy the airport experience more. To help out its weary travelers, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is launching an autonomous, self-driving luggage trolley to guide passengers through the airport and carry their bags. The blue cart (named Care-E) greets passengers once they are past security. The passenger will be prompted to scan a boarding pass and will be guided by Care-E to any location in the airport. And, of course Care-E carries all of the bulky and heavy luggage (up to 85 pounds).
Care-E moves at a human walking pace of 3 miles/hour and uses familiar, nonverbal sounds to interact with passengers. The bright blue self-driving trolley can take passengers directly to their gates, even if the gate has changed.
Air travel is so much better when someone else totes the bags!
Group Activities and Discussion Questions:
- Poll students: What has been their experience travelling with luggage in airports? How could airlines improve this?
- Show the Care-E video: https://youtu.be/_Hio_YN77EE
- Review key aspects of developing a product positioning map, including determining the axis labels for positioning.
- For air travel, who are KLM’s competitors?
- Divide students into teams and have each team develop a positioning map for airlines.
- How can KLM use Care-E to position itself against competing airlines?
- Have each team draw their map on the board.
- Debrief exercise.
Source: Brandchannel.com, CNN, other news sources
