We have all heard about multiple countries testing out driverless cars, Singapore included. There was even an ongoing debate about whether or not driverless cars were feasible and who they should protect in the case of an emergency.
Something that sounded so impossible years ago is perhaps coming true in the near future. It is not a matter of if anymore, but rather a matter of when.
It was recently reported by Reuters that Singapore has plans to deploy driverless buses in three districts by 2022.
A Promise In 2017
Wait, you’re an avid reader of Channel NewsAsia and you’ve never seen anything about the deployment of driverless buses in Singapore.
That’s because they weren’t referring to something that was said recently.
It was reported back in 2017.
And if it holds true to what the report said, workers and residents in these three areas:
- Tengah
- Punggol
- Jurong Innovation District
will be the first to experience the magic of buses without drivers.
They are planned to be rolled out in 2022 under a pilot programme and will start with less-congested roads and off-peak hours operation.
Trial Runs
They have started test runs around the coastal district of Sentosa and the latest trial run, supposedly running until November 15, is being closely monitored by tech firms and automakers everywhere.
The test run includes a human driver in the driver’s seat overlooking the self-rotating steering wheel.
This allows the human driver to take control anytime if an emergency situation calls for it. Passengers of the driverless buses were also advised to fasten their seatbelts in case of any mishaps.
On the first day of the test run on 26 August 2019, bushes along the curbside and wandering beachgoers were enough to trigger the driverless buses to come to a jolting stop, proving the sensitivity of the sensors present in the bus.
Roaming peacocks were identified as risks as they could fly onto the road anytime and cause a disruption to the test run.
Mishaps
In 2016, a driverless car belonging to nuTonomy, a startup company, collided with a lorry while changing lanes in Biopolis Drive at one-north.
In more recent news, a driverless bus operated by Navya hit a pedestrian in Vienna, Austria during a trial run. The July 2019 incident caused the pedestrian to suffer from minor abrasions on her knee. However, it is unclear who was at fault because the pedestrian was said to have been distracted by her smartphone as she walked against the side of the bus.
See, this is why you don’t use your phone when you’re crossing the road! Not looking at your phone for that few seconds won’t kill you, but looking at it when you should be paying attention to your surroundings instead will.
Future Goals
The chief robotics engineer at ST Engineering’s Land Systems arm, Tan Nai Kwan, hopes that driverless buses would become safe enough such that we no longer need any human drivers in the driver seat.
Instead, these safety drivers can retire to the remote control centre and observe the operations from there.
Tan stressed that despite this, their main concern is still the safety of everyone. Singapore’s transport ministry also agreed with Tan that public safety is their top priority.
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