Driverless buses will soon hit Singapore roads as city-state's transport authority gears up to test driverless technology in three new towns starting 2022.
The government has identified Punggol, Tengah and the Jurong Innovation District (JID) as areas where residents and workers can turn to driverless buses and shuttles for their first- and last-mile commute.
The announcement comes as Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore), the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and JTC agreed to open Singapore's first autonomous vehicle (AV) test centre located in Jurong Innovation District.
The new 2-hectare test facility will support the research of AVs, along with the necessary standards and testing regimes for the safe deployment of AVs on our public roads.
As there are currently no existing international test standards or international certification bodies for AVs, CETRAN will anchor Singapore's position in supporting the testing and eventual widespread deployment of AVs, LTA said in a statement.
To monitor the progress of AV testing, LTA has installed a network of seven 360-degrees close circuit television (CCTV) cameras at strategic locations across the test centre.
To gather insights from industry players and research institutions for the pilot autonomous vehicle services in the three new towns, the Ministry of Transport and the LTA launched a Request for Information (RFI) on Wednesday. The RFI will be open until May 31 next year (2018).
The Land Transport Authority hopes eventually to outfit existing buses with sensors and develop a self-driving system that can effectively navigate Singapore's traffic and climate conditions.
