SINGAPORE, July 8 — Ride-hailing giant Grab is launching a six-month trial of a driverless shuttle service for its employees, starting July 9.

According to The Straits Times, the 22-seater autonomous electric minibus will run on a 3.9km fixed loop between Grab’s office at Media Circle and the one-north MRT station during off-peak hours on weekdays.

Although the bus is fully self-driving, a safety operator will remain behind the wheel to take control if necessary, in line with Land Transport Authority (LTA) regulations.

The LTA, which oversees autonomous vehicle (AV) trials, requires all such vehicles to have a safety operator and display a blinking yellow beacon and a trial sticker when in autonomous mode.

Developed by Korean tech firm Autonomous A2Z, the vehicle is a regular electric minibus retrofitted with sensors and software to enable autonomous driving, The Straits Times reported.

It is equipped with 11 sensors — including radars and cameras — and has undergone over 100 hours of training along the designated route. The training covered road infrastructure, lane markings, pedestrian detection, and responding to traffic lights.

During a 15-minute demonstration today, the shuttle completed the journey without human intervention.

It navigated traffic, changed lanes to avoid obstacles like illegally parked vehicles, and stopped at every zebra crossing along the route — even when no pedestrians were present — as required by the LTA.

Grab’s group managing director of operations, Yee Wee Tang, said the trial could offer insights into how AVs might serve short-distance trips more effectively.

"It could potentially be of value to passengers whose destinations are too far for walking but too near to use a ride-hail service,” he reportedly said at the media preview.

When not in service, the shuttle will be used for training and technology development.

Currently, five safety operators are undergoing training, with plans to expand to 10 by the end of 2025.

The pilot follows Grab’s March partnership with four autonomous tech companies to assess how AVs can support urban transport in South-east Asia.

The launch also comes amid a wider government push to integrate autonomous vehicles into Singapore’s public transport network.

In June, Acting Transport Minister Jeffrey Siow said the Singapore government was exploring the use of AVs to enhance public mobility. A larger-scale trial involving self-driving public shuttles is slated to begin in Punggol in the fourth quarter of 2025.

Autonomous A2Z is the only firm with LTA approval to conduct AV trials in 2025 so far, joining earlier test participants Chinese firms WeRide and Zelos, and local company Moovita.

According to the LTA, 17 autonomous vehicles are currently authorised for public road trials as of end-June. These include AVs designed for logistics, passenger transport, and road maintenance.

Since 2017, more than 60 AVs have been approved for on-road trials, with about a third still active.