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De-risking the future — A case study: DFW Airport driving innovation and reducing risk on the road to autonomy
Journal of Airport Management,
16
(4),
314-326
(2022)
Abstract
The coming wave of autonomous vehicles (AVs) presents a conundrum. Under the weight of millions of annual passengers, non-aeronautical revenue streams that feature parking and rental cars as top-line items and the business operation needs of today, airports risk erosion of revenue streams and upended operations as AVs come forward. When you consider the pervasive opportunity autonomous technology brings to passenger transport, cargo and ground support equipment, aircraft taxi bots, lawn mowers and delivery robots, the risks are widespread. How might this emerging technology be planned for in an environment that requires years-long planning for infrastructure? How might a future be envisioned where cars park themselves — or cease to require parking because they dutifully return home empty to their garage after a customer drop-off? The questions continue and the answers are unclear. What is clear is that the opportunity to take advantage of these technologies is immense. The time to initiate planning is now, even though solutions are still shrouded in ambiguity. Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport's (DFW) mission, ‘Travel. Transformed’ is not an endpoint, but rather a constantly evolving vision of what is possible. Innovation is a highly visible component of DFW's strategic plan, and a foundational element of its approach to meeting key results. This paper highlights DFW's efforts around autonomous technologies and their multi-pronged approach to innovation — an approach that features a discipled process, cross-functional programme management and a steadfast commitment to people.
Keywords: innovation; technology; culture; strategy; autonomous; customer experience; future; operations; collaboration; leadership
The full article is available to subscribers to the journal.
Author's Biography
Jodie Brinkerhoff is Vice President of Innovation at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) and leads the Innovation team's efforts to investigate, ideate, incubate and implement new products and solutions for the airport. Her team works across the enterprise, partnering with core business units and bringing in emerging technologies as enablers to solve problems. She is also responsible for development of innovation skill building and culture initiatives for employees. Jodie is passionate about understanding new trends and emerging technologies, inspiring transformational corporate culture and building what is right for the customer. She has a love of working with both start-up ventures and corporate enterprises — her favourite depends on the day. Prior to joining DFW, Jodie was the North American lead for Mastercard Labs in New York. From 2010–2016, Jodie was SVP at Fuel Cycle, a software-as-a-service start up. In her early career, Jodie sold consulting for several global research providers, including Mintel Group Ltd and Harris Interactive (owners of The Harris Poll). Jodie is a founding Advisory Board member of the leadership organisation, Women Leading Travel & Hospitality, and a member of the Women's Empowerment Initiative within the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC). She also serves on the Board of Advisors for the Jim McNatt Institute for Logistics Research at the University of North Texas, whose mission is to engage in a collaborative convergence of science, technology, engineering, maths, art and design in logistics systems and enterprises through pre-eminent research. Jodie holds a BA in Communications from Loyola University in Maryland and MBA in marketing and e-commerce from the University of San Francisco.
