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Singapore To Add Self-Driving Buses to Fleet by 2018

From Popular Mechanics

Singapore will begin trials two self-driving buses in its public fleet in 2018. The vehicles will be operating near the university which helped to bring them to life, Nanyang Technological University (NTU).

It's notable that the buses are just that-fully fledged buses without compromise. They'll be able to carry 80 people each, with a planned route between NTU and CleanTech Park in the Jurong Innovation District. Launching the buses could significantly improve traffic congestion during peak hours in the area.

As electric hybrids, the busses will charge at every stop they make. "Current efforts worldwide have been focused on cars," Professor Lam Khin Yong, NTU Chief of Staff and Vice-President of Research, tells NewsAsia. "So, this autonomous bus trial is the first of its kind in Singapore that will aim to improve road safety, reduce vehicle congestion, alleviate pollution and address manpower challenges."

The busses will be managed by both NTU and the Land Transit Authority (LTA), the public transit regulatory commission for the world's only island city-state. During peak hours, the busses will be deployed in multiple locations. "During off-peak hours," the two groups announced in a statement, "these buses will be deployed dynamically based on commuter demand and the fastest possible route, thus reducing the number of vehicles needed to ply the town and maximizing the number of commuters on board each vehicle."

While it's unsure what busses will be used for the test, there's a commitment to keep them within the current Singaporean fleet. According to Prof Subodh Mhaisalkar, an exexcutive director at NTU, the university wants to "make sure that once we prove it [is viable], there should not be any hindrance to scaling and going from two buses to multiple buses."

Source: NewAsia via Engadget

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