Tests on Autonomous Public Buses and Inclusion in Public Transport Mix

Mr Kwek Hian Chuan Henry asked the Minister for Transport what is the progress of work on autonomous public bus fleets in Singapore and when can they be expected to be a part of our public transportation mix.

Mr Speaker, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) has entered into partnerships with Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and ST Kinetics (STK) to develop autonomous buses. These autonomous bus projects are progressing well, with NTU and STK on track to commence trials in 2019. The trials will initially be carried out in a controlled environment at the CETRAN Autonomous Vehicle (AV) Test Centre, before expanding into designated areas with lighter traffic, such as NTU, CleanTech Park and Jurong Island. The lessons learnt will be useful when LTA subsequently deploys the autonomous buses to public roads.

Separately, LTA has also issued a request for information (RFI) on the deployment of AV buses in Punggol, Tengah and the Jurong Innovation District. We hope that the RFI returns will help us gauge industry’s readiness and interest in AV pilot deployment, as well as give us inputs on concepts of operations, such as management of AV fleets and infrastructural requirements. The pilot deployment is expected to provide important insights into commuter acceptance of AVs and how we can scale up their deployment across Singapore.