Self-driving public buses to be tested at Marina Bay, Shenton Way & one-north

Singapore will trial self-driving public buses in Marina Bay and one-north.

The trial will start with smaller buses with at least 16 seats, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said on Jan. 27, 2025.

Shorter and simpler routes first

The buses will ply the routes of service 400 in the Marina Bay and Shenton Way area, followed by service 191 in one-north.

LTA said these two services have shorter and simpler routes.

One-north has been a testbed for an existing autonomous vehicle (AV) since 2019.

Deployed from mid-2026

The driverless buses will be deployed from mid-2026 for an initial period of three years.

LTA will purchase six autonomous buses as a start, and they will operate together with existing buses.

Up to 14 more autonomous buses may be purchased if the trial goes well.

More AVs will enable the trial to be expanded to two more public bus services.

Safety

Drivers will be on board the self-driving buses as safety operators during the initial phase.

AVs do not have drivers as they can navigate roads using sensors.

The self-driving buses will be monitored in real-time by LTA though to assess their performance and compliance with regulations.

They must be able to carry out safe pick-up and drop-up at all stops to meet operating requirements.

Safeguards include getting passengers to be seated and wearing seatbelts.

A customer service officer may be deployed on board to assist commuters.

Call for proposals

A request for proposals was launched on Monday.

The selected party will work with SBS Transit, which currently operates Services 400 and 191.

LTA said this pilot will help to "gain insights into the operational aspects of running autonomous buses at both service and fleet levels".

The winning tenderer is expected to operate for at least six months.

This is to demonstrate the reliability of the autonomous buses’ self-driving and remote operations capabilities.

A remote safety operator can take over the supervisory role after this period.

LTA said the proposals must include details of technical know-how to operate AVs, such as bus models, fleet management and remote operation systems, as well as electric charging infrastructure.

The request for proposals will close by the second quarter of 2025.

The contract is expected to be awarded by the end of the year.

Top photo via sgbuses.com