Singapore unveils plans for transport system

Meanwhile, the government said it received eight proposals for using driverless technology for mass transport.

In the Facebook post, LTA added that in partnership with one-north’s master planner JTC, it will progressively install CCTVs and develop a backend system to monitor and study the behaviour of self-driving vehicles. Each vehicle has a capacity of 10 people, with seats for six passengers and standing room for four passengers or one wheelchair. It will operate for two hours a day from 4 to 6pm and is free for visitors.

After the public trial, further tests will be done before the vehicles are deployed in the Gardens.

A*Star’s Institute for Infocomm Research and the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology have started driverless trials in one-north, while the Nanyang Technological University has been doing the same on its campus grounds. The ministry also signed an MoU with the Sentosa Development Corp. and ST Engineering to trial self-driving shuttle services across Sen…

These driverless shuttles will allow guests to travel around the island by calling for them via smartphones or information kiosks.

The technology will involve one human-driven truck guiding one or more driverless trucks behind it, according to a joint release. For this, a 10km long test route along West Coast Highway has been identified.

5 Permanent Secretary for Transport Mr Pang Kin Keong, who is Chairman of the Committee for Autonomous Road Transport in Singapore (CARTS), said, “As Singapore’s maritime sector continues to grow and container volumes increase, the need for efficient inter-terminal and inter-port haulage has never been greater”.

“With land and manpower as Singapore’s two key constraints, we hope to gain valuable insights into how we can design our towns of the future to take advantage of this technology and incorporate self-driving mobility concepts into our public transport model to meet Singapore’s needs”, the ministry said. This will provide convenient point-to-point transport mode within towns, and help us rely less on private cars.