Driverless Buses Coming to Jurong, Here’s What You Need to Know About it

For the past few years, Jurong has been an exciting hub of activities and development, a far cry from the sleepy town called ulu Jurong by the rest of Singapore back in the past.

For someone like me who has been staying in the west for my entire life, it’s pretty awesome to be calling back those friends and tell them, so now what?

From the development of the three mega malls at Jurong East to the second CBD planned for Jurong Lake and the SG-KL Terminal, something new and exciting is coming to the west!

Driverless Buses to be on the Roads in Jurong

Pretty soon, you won’t need to just content with buses, jaywalkers and bicycles on the roads in Jurong. You’ll have to look out for driverless buses as well.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) and NTU’s Energy Research Institute will be conducting the trial for driverless buses in the area.

And for those who are worried about the consequences of having autonomous vehicles on the roads especially after the collision of a lorry and a driverless car just recently, don’t worry.

NTU has trialled a self-driving electrical shuttle between the campus and CleanTech Park since 2013 and they will be using this experience to design two self-driving electric hybrid buses.

If successful, this trial might just reduce road congestion on Singapore roads. No more getting stuck in traffic and running late for work!

Driverless Buses’ Specifications

The buses will be 12-metres long and can carry up to 80 passengers at a time.

The buses come equipped with sensors and other capabilities that allow the buses to react accordingly in every situation. The buses will also be equipped to charge at bus depots and stations.

The trial will have these driverless buses travelling between NTU and CleanTech Park. And maybe Pioneer MRT as well if things goes smoothly.

Driverless Vehicles, how safe are they?

 

According to a research done way back in 1985, 57% of road accidents are caused by human drivers themselves. Add in accidents caused by environmental factors, think humans and roads and you’ll have a whopping 66%.

This means, theoretically, that if you remove the human element, you’ll reduce accidents by more than half.

Sounds awesome, right?

Now, with that being said, no trying to jaywalk in front of these buses because, well, they’re still under trial. Don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about because people always jaywalk below Pioneer MRT station.

You’d never know what bugs there are in the program and I’m pretty sure you won’t want to be the (unfortunate) person to let the programmers know something needs to be changed, right?

So don’t scream if you see a bus moving by itself, eh?

Featured Image: gizmodo.com

This article is first published on goodyfeed.com