SINGAPORE: A self-driving shuttle bus operated by ComfortDelGro will be tested at the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Kent Ridge campus starting this Saturday (May 25), although trials with passengers will only begin later this year.
Called the NUSmart Shuttle, the bus is fully electric and has a capacity of 12 people. It follows a predefined route and is equipped with sensors to detect and avoid potential obstacles.
In its first one-and-a-half months of road test, the bus will ply a 1.6km route between Heng Mui Keng Terrace and Business Link, travelling at between 5kmh and 16kmh.
Self-driving NUSmart Shuttle bus. (Photo: The National University of Singapore)
“The key purpose of the road test is to ‘map’ the route through the collection of data for the vehicle’s navigation systems,” said a news release issued on Thursday.
After the mapping process is completed, it will run a “validation test” for three hours daily over four weeks.
PASSENGER TRIALS BEGIN IN THIRD QUARTER
Trials with passengers are expected to start in the third quarter of this year.
During the trials, an operator will be on board to ensure the safe operation of the vehicle and provide information to passengers.
The vehicle is based on EasyMile’s autonomous technology, and is funded and imported by Inchcape Singapore.
“It will be the first autonomous shuttle bus that is being run by a land transport operator in real mixed traffic conditions, alongside regular buses, cars and motorcycles,” said the news release, which was jointly issued by ComfortDelGro, NUS, EasyMile and Inchcape.
“It relies on its own internal array of software and hardware technologies for its navigation on the roads, without any assistance of external infrastructure,” said the release.
ComfortDelGro, through its subsidiary SBS Transit, is participating in two other trials in Sentosa and Jurong Island.
