Update: ST Kinetics to develop autonomous buses, self-driving shuttles

ST Kinetics will develop two autonomous buses and four self-driving shuttles in Singapore in its first major non-defence venture, with the results of this commercial undertaking likely to be exported to other cities with similar land transport challenges.

The unit of ST Engineering will partner the Land Transport Authority to conduct trials for the autonomous buses, which will be 12 metres long with a maximum speed of 60kmh and can seat 40 people.

To be developed over 42 months in three phases, the buses will run on fixed and scheduled routes - likely in a JTC industrial estate - in 2020.

As for the self-driving shuttles or Mobility-on-Demand-Vehicles (MODV), ST Kinetics will work with Sentosa Development Corp and the Ministry of Transport for their trials on Sentosa.

In early 2019, visitors to the island can use a smartphone app to summon an MODV - which can seat 15-20 passengers - to provide autonomous mobility-on-demand service.

ST Kinetics will also develop a fleet management system to analyse passenger demand planning and optimise route management for such ride sharing services.

These autonomous vehicle (AV) solutions were unveiled during an ST Engineering ceremony to announce the formation of the Singapore Autonomous Vehicles Consortium.

The consortium will facilitate and strengthen collaboration between industry partners and institutes of higher learning to develop AV standards and accelerate the application and adoption of AV technologies.

The partners include ST Kinetics, the Institute for Infocomm Research at A*Star, the National University of Singapore, the Singapore University of Technology and Design, the Singapore Institute of Technology and the Nanyang Technological University.