Skip to main content

Self-driving buses will soon make their way to Singapore

Virtual Singapore
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Self-driving buses are quickly making their way around the world, and now, they’re landing in Singapore. The Asian island nation announced that it would see self-driving buses and shuttles transporting citizens and tourists alike by 2022, with the Punggol, Tengah, and Jurong Innovation District slated as the first three areas to receive the technology. In order to prepare for the influx of autonomous vehicles, these areas of Singapore are said to be outfitted with “autonomous vehicle-friendly features.”

It will be a soft launch for this new automobile technology. In order to avoid any shocks to the system, Singapore will first deploy the self-driving buses during off-peak hours. The shuttles will come most in handy in providing first-last mile connections for residents and employees in these three districts. So while they may not be roaming city centers, they’ll help bring folks to and from some the outskirts of town.

According to Singapore’s Ministry of Transport and Land Transport Authority (LTA), the self-driving vehicles will “complement human-driven public buses and will initially travel on less crowded roads.”

Earlier this week, Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan oversaw the opening of Singapore’s very first autonomous vehicle testing center. “We expect that the AVs will greatly enhance the accessibility and connectivity of our public transport system, particularly for the old, families with the young, and the less mobile,” Mr Khaw said. “More importantly, we can gain further insights into how we can develop new towns or refurbish existing ones for the safe mass deployment of AVs.”

At the new testing center, researchers hope to test self-driving tech on simulated on-road situations, including pedestrian and cyclist simulators, and aggressive driving. Ultimately, the goal is for autonomous technology to benefit from “a safe, controlled and configurable testing environment,” and hopefully, help avoid any accidents by 2022.

A @DelphiAuto vehicle going through the @NTUsg operated driving circuit’s rain simulator. CETRAN was developed for these #driverlesscars https://t.co/uPd2kvjNcM pic.twitter.com/PEYFFWOYWn

— Kevin Kwang (@KevinKwangCNA) November 22, 2017

Companies already slated to begin autonomous bus trials include big names from the U.S. and U.K., like nuTonomy and Delphi Automotive, as well as domestic companies like ST Kinetics and NTU ERI@N. In the near future, Singapore anticipates attracting further trials — after all, the country has only five years to make good on its promise of bringing self-driving buses to the public.

Editors' Recommendations

Lulu Chang
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Fascinated by the effects of technology on human interaction, Lulu believes that if her parents can use your new app…
An autonomous car in San Francisco got stuck in wet concrete
A Cruise autonomous car.

A self-driving car operated by General Motors-backed Cruise got stuck on Tuesday when it drove into a patch of wet concrete.

The incident happened in San Francisco and occurred just days after California's Public Utilities Commission made a landmark decision when it voted to allow autonomous-car companies Cruise and Waymo to expand their paid ridesharing services in the city to all hours of the day instead of just quieter periods.

Read more
Waymo taps the brakes on its autonomous-trucking project
A Waymo autonomous trick undergoing testing on a highway.

Six years after launching its autonomous-truck program, Waymo has said it’s decided to focus more on developing its ridesharing ambitions using its self-driving cars and minivans.

The California-based, Alphabet-owned company said its decision to effectively put autonomous trucking on the back burner is down to the “tremendous momentum and substantial commercial opportunity” that it’s seeing with the pilot ridesharing service it launched in Arizona in 2018 before taking it to several other states. Customers involved in the program can use an app to call a Waymo driverless car in the same way they would book an Uber.

Read more
Volkswagen is launching its own self-driving car testing program in the U.S.
Volkswagen self-driving ID. Buzz in Austin

Volkswagen is taking autonomous driving a little more seriously. While the likes of Tesla and Waymo have largely led the development of next-gen driving tech, the legacy automakers are certainly starting to invest more heavily. To that end, Volkswagen has announced its first autonomous driving program in the U.S.

As part of the program, Volkswagen has outfitted 10 all-electric ID. Buzz vans with autonomous driving tech, in partnership with autonomous car tech company MobileEye. Over the next few years, Volkswagen says it'll grow this fleet of autonomous cars to cover at least four additional cities, with the current fleet operating in Austin, Texas. By 2026, Volkswagen hopes to commercially launch autonomous cars in Austin.

Read more