British Airways plans to trial A.I.-powered robots at Heathrow Airport

British Airways is set to trial artificial intelligence powered robots at Heathrow Terminal 5. In an announcement Thursday, the airline said the autonomous robots had been programmed to "interact with passengers" in multiple languages and would be able to answer "thousands" of questions, providing passengers with services such as real-time flight information. The robots are being provided by a technology company called BotsAndUs and the trial will start in 2020. British Airways added that the robots would also have the capacity to escort passengers to locations such as special assistance zones. "These smart robots are the latest innovation allowing us to free up our people to deal with immediate issues and offer that one-on-one service we know our customers appreciate," Ricardo Vidal, who is head of innovation at British Airways, said in a statement.