SINGAPORE, Dec 12 — Starting early next year, residents in Punggol will be able to book a ride in ComfortDelGro (CDG) five-seater self-driving shuttles through its Zig app under the new “Zig Driverless” option.
The move comes after the Land Transport Authority approved CDG to begin testing its autonomous vehicles (AVs) on public roads, following mandatory assessments by Nanyang Technological University’s Centre of Excellence for Testing & Research of Autonomous Vehicles, known as Milestone One, Singapore newspaper The Straits Times reported yesterday.
The Milestone One tests check that the shuttles can safely stop for moving and stationary obstacles, perform emergency stops, and obey traffic rules before being allowed on public roads.
Completing the Milestone One assessment demonstrates the company’s commitment to innovation, safety and operational excellence while meeting strict standards for autonomous vehicle systems, CDG’s group chief executive Cheng Siak Kian said in a statement yesterday.
The vehicles, built by Chinese autonomous driving firm Pony.ai, will run on one of three 12km routes in Punggol with seven stops, including Punggol Plaza, One Punggol LRT station, Punggol Coast Bus Interchange, and Oasis Terraces.
The introduction of CDG’s AVs comes alongside Grab, which is independently operating 11 autonomous shuttles in Punggol in partnership with Chinese AV company WeRide; while both companies are offering driverless rides in the same neighbourhood, they run separate fleets with different technology partners and apps.
Grab said it is preparing a first batch of more than 10 safety operators to supervise its autonomous shuttles in real time during testing and the initial public ride phase.
Singapore is pushing to deploy between 100 and 150 self-driving vehicles across the island by the end of 2026, as announced in September by Acting Transport Minister Jeffrey Siow.
