Tough questions lie ahead as Singapore accelerates push for driverless vehicles

Straits Times

09-07-2025

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SINGAPORE - During a two-day visit to Guangzhou in late June, a delegation led by Acting Transport Minister Jeffrey Siow had a taste of
what transportation could look like in Singapore in the coming years .
Ushered into Toyota Siennas fitted with low-profile cameras and light detection and ranging (Lidar) sensors , the contingent of government officials and union representatives was taken on a ride through the streets of Nansha district at the southern tip of the Chinese port city .
This is where robotaxi company Pony.AI has been operating commercially since 2022.
Peeling out of the company's operations centre into moderate traffic, the minivans drove at the speed limit of 60kmh and navigated a number of complex intersections with ease - switching lanes and overtaking other vehicles, all without a driver or a safety operator on board.
Later, in an interview with Singapore media, who were invited to join the delegation on the trip, ComfortDelGro group chief executive Cheng Siak Kian said self-driving technology has improved by leaps and bounds.
'You will quickly forget that you are in a vehicle that has got no driver inside,' he said.
The interior of a Pony.ai Robotaxi at the Auto Shanghai show in Shanghai, on April 24.
PHOTO: REUTERS
His words rang true for this reporter, who got a chance to take Pony.AI's vehicle, as well as a self-driving minibus operated by the Guangzhou Public Transport Group and supplied by Chinese firm WeRide.
There was some novelty in seeing an empty driver's seat and a steering wheel turn on its own . In WeRide's case, there was no steering wheel at all.
The smooth rides meant there was hardly any trepidation. 'Seeing is believing,' said Pony.AI's chief executive James Peng.
Like it or not, the driverless future is upon us.
But even as the technology has shown maturity, it has also raised important questions to which there are no easy answers.
For instance, the safety records touted by the likes of Pony.AI and WeRide are impressive, but their self-driving vehicles have until recently been limited to areas far from the city centre.
In February, Pony.AI was allowed to operate paid robotaxi services from specific points in the downtown area to key transit hubs such as Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport.
The routes are, however, pre-determined and there must be a safety driver on board because the journey involves going onto expressways, where robotaxi services have not been extensively tested yet.
Separately, in May, WeRide's robobus was given the nod to operate on a paid public bus route in central Guangzhou, but only from 7pm to 9pm. This is part of a phased approach by the Guangzhou Public Transport Group.
So, there is still a long way to go to definitively prove that autonomous vehicles will , indeed, improve road safety and outperform human drivers.
Self-driving companies also envi sage a future where remote operators can monitor a number of autonomous vehicles from afar and intervene as needed.
But how many vehicles should each operator be allowed to supervise at any time?
That is still up for debate, even in places such as Guangzhou, where such remote operations are already in place.
Regulators will also need to consider whether existing traffic rules and liability laws are sufficient, and whether insurers are ready to handle claims involving autonomous vehicles.
In China, there are no clear self-driving vehicle regulations on the national level, with the policing left largely to local city governments.
And despite rising adoption, Ping An Insurance is today the only insurer in the country that has come up with a dedicated policy for autonomous vehicles.
In Guangzhou, existing laws and frameworks apply. In Shenzhen, the vehicle owner is liable if there is no one at the wheel.
Britain took a different tack, passing an Act in May 2024 that will create new legal entities - likely the vehicle manufacturer and software developer - and hold them responsible if an autonomous vehicle breaks traffic rules when driving itself. This will take effect in 2027.
Singapore, which took baby steps in 2017 to regulate the testing of self-driving vehicles, will need to conduct a thorough review soon to decide which legal path it wants to take.
The Government will also need to grapple with the wider societal impact , too.
Can workers make the transition to the
new jobs that self-driving companies say will emerge , given the different skills needed?
Could self-driving vehicles breed complacency among road users and pedestrians? An overreliance on automated systems to make the right decisions can lead to reduced vigilance .
All this, and more, will need to be addressed sooner rather than later.
In just a few months, autonomous shuttles will take to the roads of Punggol, plying short fixed routes within the estate, as part of a major push by the Ministry of Transport to roll out driverless technology .
Private companies here have also re-entered the autonomous vehicle space after earlier attempts sputtered .
Most recently, Grab said on July 8 it will test a
22-seat driverless shuttle for its employees .
This comes nine years after the ride-hailing giant made history in 2016 by launching the world's first robotaxi trials in one-north business park in a tie-up with US start-up nuTonomy , which was later sold . Aims to start a fully fledged service never materialised.
While there is a renewed push here to get autonomous vehicles on the road as quickly as possible, that is not to say that Singapore is throwing caution to the wind.
MOT has said the deployment of the driverless shuttles in Punggol will be done in steps, and the vehicles will not ferry any passengers until residents and road users are more comfortable with them.
There will be a safety officer on board, and only if the technology is established to be safe enough will they be replaced by remote operators.
Additionally, the idea is for the autonomous shuttles to
supplement the public transport network and create more travel options , and not replace existing services.
Hence, even though Pony.AI and Baidu's robotaxi subsidiary Apollo Go have said they are keen to start trials here as soon as the end of 2025, don't expect to be able to hail a self-driving cab ride any time soon.
And even with Singapore's more considered approach, the Government must begin to tackle the pressing questions head-on, and communicate clearly its considerations and intentions to the public.
The city of Wuhan in China presents a cautionary tale for how the roll-out of driverless vehicles must take into account the views of all parties.
In 2024, plans to rapidly scale up a self-driving taxi fleet in the capital of Hubei province drew fierce backlash from local cabbies, who petitioned the municipal transport authority to limit its use.
A major reason for the unhappiness is the aggressive discounts that Apollo Go, which operates the robotaxis there, has been offering passengers to gain market share, heightening fears about job security.
Despite its ubiquity in cities such as San Francisco and Los Angeles, the likes of Waymo have also not been able to turn public opinion fully in their favour.
A 2024 survey by the American Automobile Association found that 91 per cent of drivers in the US do not trust self-driving vehicles. High-profile accidents and congestion caused by stalling driverless vehicles have not helped with the public perception.
In an attempt to win over sceptics, Waymo in 2024 began releasing a lot more data about its safety record and adding more nuance to its numbers , for example, by highlighting the number of collisions that are at low speed .
To bolster its claims, the company has also started to publish research papers that have been peer-reviewed.
As Singapore ramps up autonomous vehicle use, there needs to be a similar level of openness about the risks and pitfalls.
This will help build public trust in what remains a nascent concept to many Singaporeans.