Singapore to expand autonomous minibus studies with public bus operator
Autonomous vehicle technology could address Singapore’s ‘pressing manpower challenges’ in the logistics and public transport sectors, says Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat
SINGAPORE will study the deployment of autonomous minibuses that could operate on the country’s roads without a driver on board, said Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat on Wednesday (Nov 6).
The Land Transport Authority (LTA) will purchase some autonomous minibuses to deploy in Singapore, with a public bus operator partner, said Chee, speaking at the Singapore International Transport Congress and Exhibition (SITCE).
The move builds on initial tests of autonomous minibuses on simpler bus routes with lower traffic and ridership. The forthcoming trials may be conducted on more challenging routes.
The minibuses could eventually be truly driverless. In the early stages, they would operate with a safety driver on board and once they are cleared for safety and reliability, the driver could be replaced by a remote safety operator.
Chee did not elaborate on a time frame for the minibuses’ deployment.
Addressing autonomous vehicle (AV) technology in general, he said that the government would be taking calibrated steps to pilot the deployment of more mature AV solutions for commercial use cases in Singapore, with safety as the “top priority”.
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The Republic will use a “phased deployment approach” for AV technologies across different use cases. In the near-term, it will focus on autonomous logistics vehicles and minibuses.
He added that this could help address Singapore’s “pressing manpower challenges” in the logistics and public transport sectors, where operators have had trouble hiring drivers.
Earlier trials
Autonomous buses and logistics vehicles have been tested in Singapore before.
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In 2019, the Ministry of Transport, the Sentosa Development Corporation and ST Engineering launched an on-demand autonomous shuttle bus service for Sentosa visitors on a 5.7 km route.
In July, Chinese AV company WeRide began offering an autonomous shuttle service at Resorts World Sentosa using its Robobus, which has been deployed in almost 30 cities around the world.
Earlier this year, LTA approved two trials of AVs on public roads for logistics purposes: Chye Thiam Maintenance with WeRide, and FairPrice Group with Zelos Technology.
Chee revealed that LTA has developed a revised testing and assessment framework for mature AV technologies that have been used overseas, which will replace an earlier framework focused on the testing of early-stage AV technologies.
The new framework is being used to assess the FairPrice and Chye Thiam trials, and will consider the technology’s track record of overseas deployment and test the AV to ensure that it can operate safely and reliably under local conditions, for example in heavy rain.
LTA said that it will brief the industry over the next month or two, after which the revised framework will be applicable to use cases which are ready.
He also said that prioritising safety is the reason for the initial focus on buses and logistics, as opposed to robotaxis. They are more difficult to operate as they use varied routes to provide point-to-point services, unlike fixed-route vehicles.
Therefore, the public road trials will begin with vehicles that travel on fixed routes, and this can include robotaxis that run on such routes as well, he said.
SITCE, a convention that focuses on transport, is organised by LTA, the International Association of Public Transport, and MSI Global. This year’s edition is held at the Suntec Singapore Convention Centre from Nov 6 to Nov 8.
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