Chairman, research and small scale testing of AVs for use on urban roads in Singapore has been going on since at least 2013, with one of the earliest research and trials on the roads in one-north in partnership with MIT’s nuTonomy.
In 2014, another trial under A*STAR was started at one-north as well, this one under the Singapore Autonomous Vehicle Initiative (SAVI).
In 2015, the MOT signed an MOU to further expand trials on AV with PSA Singapore, and another with the Sentosa Development Corporation and ST Engineering, which I was lucky enough to experience myself.
There have been various other trials since then and fast forward to 2025, a 17-member committee chaired by the Acting Minister for Transport was formed to look at the roll out of AVs on Singapore roads. Today in 2026, a small number of vehicles are now involved in AV trials in the residential district in Punggol, and LTA plans to procure six autonomous buses with operations beginning in mid-2026 for an initial period of three years.
In comparison, the AV industry in places like China and the US has boomed, with their biggest players, Pony AI, WeRide and Waymo already running fully driverless commercial services in the cities they are operating in. Waymo has around 2,500 vehicles today and targets at least 10,000 vehicles and 1 million robotaxi rides a week. Pony AI aims for more than 3,000 vehicles by 2026, similar to WeRide with its target for up to 3,000 vehicles by the end of this year.
Countries in the Middle East are also showing markedly faster implementation of AVs. The Dubai Autonomous Transportation Strategy aims to have 25% of the total transportation in Dubai to be autonomous by 2030. Saudi Arabia’s Transport General Authority has set a target for 25% of all goods transport vehicles to be fully autonomous by 2030.
Additionally, according to SMRT, our public bus system is struggling to hire bus captains, especially from our local manpower pool. AVs as buses would ease the pressure on this issue, yet despite numerous trials all across the island and with multiple partners, that Singapore’s AV rollout is still in the trial phase 12 years on. Beyond stating that Singapore will have, and I quote “many autonomous vehicles in Singapore” in five years’ time, can the MOT provide numerical targets for our AV ambition?
As my colleague Mr Gerald Giam shared more than a decade ago in 2015, Singapore is in an excellent position to lead the world in the adoption of driverless cars. But we must ensure that legislation promotes and does not inhibit the test-bedding and public use of these vehicles. I hope we will be able to accelerate autonomous vehicle rollout in Singapore, especially for buses given the severe shortage of drivers.
