The robot in the street: a completely automated filling station

After several years when oil market firsts lacked, on the battleground of major companies in the field, an investor is betting over 20m euros to launch a new filling station chain. The filling station as a robot, with no people, is the bet with which Bioromoil Automatic Stations is tackling a 7bn-euro market where the tendency of recent years has been quite the opposite, banking on expanded services, and not on the minimalism of complete automation.

Specialists say there are four main criteria consumers look at when choosing a filling station: proximity, which is also the most important, fuel quality, services and price.
However, Bioromoil Automatic Stations, which is part of biodiesel trade specialist Bioromoil, has decided that beyond all these criteria, there is one that is becoming extremely important, namely the time spent in a filling station.
Medium-term plans are quite ambitious, with the company being willing to invest 20m euros in 100 filling stations in the next three years through which it is set to control 3% of the market. The company hopes to recoup investments in five years and expects 7m-euro turnover for this year.