“Autonomous vehicles are one among the many technologies that have potential to enable smarter journeys for sustainable cities”
As cities evolve, the need to tackle challenges that emerge becomes imperative. Rising density in cities and gridlocks hinder the efficient movement of people and goods. Apart from this, transport-related carbon emissions and shortage of workers including drivers are also seen. The integration of technology is expected to be a key lever to tackle these issues, bringing the need for it to be publicly accepted, widely deployed, and facilitated by a supportive ecosystem. In this regard, electric vehicles (EVs) and autonomous vehicles (AVs) are gaining traction. At the Singapore International Transport Congress and Exhibition 2024, Chee Hong Tat, the Minister for Transport of Singapore, in his speech, commented on the state of EV adoption in Singapore, and future plans for the deployment of AVs in the country. Excerpts …
Adoption of EVs
Singapore has undertaken various efforts to support the adoption of EVs. EV chargers are being deployed across all public housing carparks and their installation in private condominiums is also being supported. The Electric Vehicles Charging Act has been introduced to regulate the safe charging of EVs, to ensure the provision of reliable EV charging services and to expand the network of accessible charging infrastructure. While transition is still in the early stages, trends so far have been encouraging. In 2020, EVs accounted for only 0.2 per cent of new car registrations. However, as of the end of September 2024, EVs accounted for around one-third of new car registrations. Efforts have also been undertaken to electrify the public bus fleet. The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has procured 420 electric buses and contracts have been awarded to deploy EV charging systems in the Sengkang West, East Coast and Gali Batu bus depots. The LTA also targets to electrify half the public bus fleet by 2030.
Increasing focus on AVs
Singapore has been working on the use of AVs and commenced facilitating on-road AV trials in 2015. Since then, it has built up its technical standards and testing capabilities at the Centre of Excellence for Testing & Research of Autonomous Vehicles (CETRAN).
Testing framework
The LTA is committed and determined to make AV technology work well and safely in the local environment. An effective way to do this would be to take a calibrated and data-driven approach, manage risk and start trials on routes that are less challenging, facilitating adjustments to be made before expanding and scaling.
The original testing framework implemented at CETRAN focused on the testing of early-stage AV technologies. The LTA has since developed a revised testing and assessment framework for mature technologies that have already been deployed in other countries, as the emphasis shifts towards the safe and effective adoption of more mature AV technologies. The revised framework will remain data-driven.
This will include taking into consideration the track record of overseas deployment, putting the AVs through an in-circuit assessment under local conditions, and then allowing for deployment on predetermined real-world routes. The determination of routes will be based on need, and the difficulty levels of deploying AVs on the routes. Initial deployments will commence on routes that are less challenging and then be expanded progressively, based on scale and difficulty, subject to the performance and track record. Conditions such as the speed and time of deployment will also be agreed upfront with the owner of the use case. For example, trialling could commence later at night when traffic is less heavy. The LTA will also closely monitor the performance data of the AVs and assess their ability to operate safely and reliably in the local environment and conditions like heavy rains.
Deployment across use cases
The deployment of AV technologies across use cases would be carried out in a phased approach. Near-term focus would be on use cases involving autonomous logistics vehicles and minibuses. These domains allow for scalable deployment along fixed routes, ensuring that deployment risks can be managed with more caution with lower vehicle speeds and time of use. Additionally, these use cases can also aid in addressing pressing manpower challenges in the logistics and public transport sectors.
The LTA has approved the deployment of AVs on public roads for two industry use cases proposed by Chye Thiam Maintenance Private Limited and the FairPrice Group. Chye Thiam is partnering with WeRide to deploy electric robo-sweepers at the Airline Road and Marina Coastal Drive. The FairPrice Group is partnering with Zelos Technology to deploy electric autonomous logistics vehicles to transfer palletised goods between its Benoi and Joo Koon distribution centres. AVs for both companies have been deployed with a good track record overseas and have passed the local in-circuit test at CETRAN. Both companies identified a business need, a compatible AV partner, and developed their use case commercially. The LTA piloted the revised testing and assessment framework on these use cases and has set up an AV monitoring system to collect and analyse the trial data. The AVs will help companies lower carbon emissions, reduce time spent on manual tasks and facilitate employees to focus on more complex activities that cannot be done through automation.
The LTA has also studied the deployment of autonomous minibuses, initially commencing with less technically challenging routes with lower traffic and ridership, and later expand to challenging routes. The LTA will purchase a few autonomous minibuses, together with a partner public bus operator. In the initial stages, these minibuses will have a safety driver on board, and be monitored for safety and reliability over a period, before transiting to a remote safety operator. The LTA is also open to the use of robo-taxis. However, robo-taxis that travel on different routes to provide point-to-point services will be more challenging to operate in comparison to AVs that travel on fixed routes. Hence, keeping safety in mind, trials will commence on public roads with vehicles that travel on fixed routes, which could also include robo-taxis that are run on fixed routes. As technology continues to mature and public confidence grows, deployments can be scaled across more routes and use cases, including the possibility of full-fledged robo-taxis in the future. However, the uptake would be subject to the ability to adequately address safety and operational risks in the local environment, which will require further trials, data collection and assessment.
Upskilling the workforce
While undertaking the transition, there is a need to follow an ecosystem approach, to ensure that the different elements within the ecosystem are prepared. In line with this, AV deployment would also see training and upskilling of workers. Adopting a tripartite approach, the LTA, the National Transport Workers’ Union (NTWU) and public transport operators have worked together to develop a skills and training road map for autonomous buses. While these buses may not require a captain at the wheel, new roles such as remote safety operators, in-vehicle customer service officers, fleet managers and a range of technical functions will be required during the transition.
Conclusion
AVs are one among the many technologies that have potential to enable smarter journeys for sustainable cities. With safety as the top priority, calibrated steps will be adopted to pilot the deployment of more mature AV solutions for commercial use cases in Singapore. This will be supported by a testing and assessment framework, deployment strategy, and a skills and training road map for workers.
