ComfortDelGro and Pony.ai get green light from Singapore regulators to start autonomous vehicle testing on public roads
This is ahead of an expected launch of AV shuttle services in Punggol next year
[SINGAPORE] The Land Transport Authority (LTA) of Singapore has given its approval to transport operator ComfortDelGro and its autonomous vehicle (AV) partner Pony.ai to begin testing their AV shuttles in residential district Punggol.
ComfortDelGro told The Business Times on Wednesday (Dec 10) that the Centre of Testing & Research of Autonomous Vehicles – NTU (Cetran) has also approved all five of the vehicles that will be used in the trial.
Established in 2017 by Nanyang Technological University, LTA and JTC – a government agency tasked with developing industrial infrastructure – Cetran supports LTA in developing test requirements and standards for deploying AVs in Singapore.
Cheng Siak Kian, ComfortDelGro’s group chief executive officer, told BT that completing the Cetran Milestone 1 batch assessment highlights the company’s “dedication to innovation, safety and operational excellence”.
“This achievement meets the stringent standards for AV systems, enabling us to responsibly introduce intelligent transport systems in Singapore,” he added.
The approval comes after regulators last month gave Grab and WeRide the green light to test their AV shuttles in Punggol as well.
Singapore wants to roll out commercial AV services next year, with the initial phase a shuttle service plying a fixed number of locations within a specified district. Punggol, located in the north-east of the city-state, will be the first residential district to have the AV shuttle service.
ComfortDelGro will operate five seven-seater AV shuttles when road trials begin, expected to be in the first quarter of 2026. Its competitor Grab has an AV fleet that consists of 10 five-seaters and one eight-seater Robobus.
The tests in Punggol are key to the commencement of AV operations. They will allow ComfortDelGro and Pony.ai to localise their AV software by gathering data such as road infrastructure, weather patterns, as well as the behaviours of road users and pedestrians.
Massive amounts of such data are needed for AVs to operate in Singapore, as their artificial intelligence systems rely on this information to make real-time decisions.
In March, ComfortDelGro and Pony.ai began a sandbox programme in Guangzhou, China, to develop capabilities for operating an AV fleet.
Gaining approval to start tests in Punggol arguably marks an important step in ComfortDelGro’s AV ambitions, as it allows the company to deploy the capabilities it acquired in Guangzhou in other markets.
The transport operator recently signed a memorandum of understanding with another Chinese AV player, Hello Robotaxi, to collaborate on large-scale commercial robotaxi deployment in China and elsewhere.
ComfortDelGro currently operates a fleet of over 42,200 taxis across mainland China, the United Kingdom, Australia and Singapore. It is the largest taxi operator in both Australia and Singapore.
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