Singapore has taken a big step closer towards achieving its long-term vision of incorporating driverless vehicles into the land transport system.
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“Self-driving” trials began in August 2014 in one-north as part of the Singapore Autonomous Vehicle Initiative (SAVI), which was set up by the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR).
Another MoU was signed between MOT and PSA, to jointly develop autonomous truck platooning technology for transporting cargo between port terminals.
At Gardens by the Bay, the futuristic and compact-looking Auto Rider will be available for free rides every day from 4pm to 6pm. Each vehicle has a capacity of 10 people, with seats for six passengers and standing room for four passengers or one wheelchair.
Prominent signboards will be put up around one-north, along with special decals and markings on all test vehicles, to create awareness among the one-north community and its visitors.
Through this one-year trial, the SMART-NUS AV group will be advancing its vehicles’ self-driving capabilities, working towards more sophisticated demonstrations of autonomous Mobility-on-Demand (MoD) transportation services.
MOT, Sentosa Development Corporation, and Singapore Technologies Engineering signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) today for the project.
The government said on Monday that it would also seek proposals to design and implement autonomous truck platooning trials, which involves one human-driven truck being followed by driverless trucks.
LTA is now evaluating them and will work with the most promising proposers to translate the proposals into trial programmes. More haulage activities can also be moved to off-peak hours, which will improve traffic flow during peak periods. This unique feature allows it to drive even in tunnels and places where Global Positioning System signals would be hindered.
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Singapore residents, says Permanent Secretary for Transport Pang Kin Keong, prefer owning cars so as to avoid walking the first and last mile from the bus or train station to their home. This will provide convenient point-to-point transport mode within towns, and help us rely less on private cars.
