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Moving between Hong Kong West Kowloon Station and Airport Express Kowloon Station currently means roughly a 10-minute walk through Elements shopping mall – a nightmare if you’re having to lug heavy suitcases around while navigating a mall with notoriously confusing maps.
Thankfully, relief is on the horizon as MTR Corporation and the Airport Authority Hong Kong have launched road trials for an autonomous vehicle (AV) connection service between the two hubs. The trial uses a fleet of four sixth-generation Baidu Apollo autonomous electric vehicles to ferry cross-boundary travellers along public roads – including Wui Man Road, Jordan Road, and Nga Cheung Road – cutting the transfer to around seven minutes while being comfortably seated.
The project operates under a pilot license from the Transport Department and will progress through a four-phase testing roadmap. Phase one involves on-road testing without passengers, though a human safety operator will remain behind the wheel just in case manual control is needed. Subsequent phases will introduce non-commercial passenger trials, remote control monitoring from an off-site centre, and eventually, fully driverless passenger trips.
If all goes to plan, the AV service will welcome the public in the second quarter of 2027. MTR also plans to launch a new in-town check-in and baggage drop counter inside West Kowloon Station, allowing travellers arriving on high-speed rail to drop their bags before hopping into a self-driving car to Kowloon Station.
Further details on target passenger groups and ticketing will be announced closer to the launch.
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