S$800 million to be invested in S'pore transport research & innovation over next 5 years: Jeffrey Siow

The Ministry of Transport (MOT) will pump S$800 million into transport research and innovation over the course of the next five years, said Acting Transport Minister Jeffrey Siow during parliament sitting on Jul. 7.

Several members of parliament had filed a parliamentary motion calling for the reinforcement of Singapore's position as a global transport hub.

Speaking on the motion, Siow said transport is the foundation on which Singapore's economy is built and emphasised the need to keep the sector globally-oriented, future-focused and people-centric.

Transport research and innovation

Siow, who sits on the National AI Council and leads the AI Mission on Connectivity, noted the increasing conversations around Artificial Intelligence (AI).

With the unpredictability of AI, there is a need to prepare and stay ahead, and transport is no exception, he said.

"Our approach will not be to adopt AI for its own sake, but to do so with intention, clarity and on our own terms," Siow said.

Responding to the motion filed, Siow shared that MOT plans to invest S$800 million over the next five years on transport research and innovation.

This will include projects drawn from the AI Connectivity Mission, he added.

Noting that S$800 million is more than double the funding for the last five years, Siow said the government will use these funds to "back ideas that could completely transform how transport operates today".

He gave an example of a fully automated MRT depot that maintains and repairs Singapore's trains more efficiently.

"If these projects succeed in the next decade, Singapore will still remain one of the world’s major transport and logistics hubs, but it will look completely different," he said.

Technology supporting workers

Siow's speech also touched on supporting workers in the transport sector.

Saying that technology can transform existing jobs and create new jobs, he noted AI can lighten the workload of some jobs.

For example, he said that AI can "put the full picture together" for air traffic controllers, so that the controller can focus on decision-making, something only a human can do.

“Technology of this kind raises the value of the workers,” he said.

Siow also addressed concerns that some taxi and private hire car drivers may have about autonomous vehicles (AVs).

He assured that driver jobs are "not going to vanish anytime soon" and highlighted that Singapore has more than 70,000 taxi and private-hire drivers, while there are only about 20 AVs here.

"Even if I gathered every autonomous vehicle in the world around the world today and moved them all to Singapore, that would only be about seven cars or less than 10 of our total taxi and private hire car population," Siow said, saying they will take a proactive approach to support drivers in any transition.