First autonomous shuttle service in Punggol to open to public by second quarter of 2026

SINGAPORE: The first of three new autonomous shuttle service routes in Punggol will open to the public by the second quarter of 2026, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said on Saturday (Sep 20).

Grab will operate two routes using autonomous vehicles (AV) developed by AV company WeRide, while ComfortDelGro will operate one route using vehicles by AV company Pony.ai.

The shuttle services will start out with a mix of five to eight-seater vehicles. They will be purple in colour and labelled as an “autonomous shuttle” so road users can easily identify them.

Speaking at the launch of the Autonomous Shuttle Roadshow at Punggol Digital District on Saturday, Senior Minister of State for National Development and Transport Sun Xueling said that Punggol was selected as there is a diverse group of residents with “clear travel patterns that can be better served”.

“The shuttles will also help to improve connectivity within our town, including first-mile and last-mile connectivity to key transport nodes,” said Ms Sun, who is also a Member of Parliament for Punggol GRC.

She added that the authorities will launch the three routes progressively.

The first route will be operated by Grab and is set to open to the public by the second quarter of next year. The route will connect residents from Matilda Court and Punggol Clover to the polyclinic at Oasis Terraces via Punggol Plaza.

The service will run from 9.30am to 5pm from Monday to Friday, and no pre-booking will be required.

ComfortDelGro will operate the second route, which will connect residents living in Punggol Northshore to Oasis Terraces and Punggol Plaza. Those living at Waterway Sunrise will also be able to reach One Punggol and Punggol Coast Mall.

Grab will operate the last route, which will connect Matilda Court, Punggol Clover and Punggol Northshore residents to One Punggol and Punggol Coast Mall.

LTA said that the autonomous shuttle services will cut travel times via public transport by up to 15 minutes.

THE NEXT "BREAKTHROUGH”

Acting Minister for Transport Jeffrey Siow, who announced the new services at the roadshow, said that autonomous vehicles are the “next technological breakthrough”.

The authorities had started planning for autonomous vehicles in 2013, but technology was “not quite ready” then, he said.

“Now with cheaper sensors, with big data, with AI (artificial intelligence), AVs today have finally become a reality,” he said.

Mr Siow, who is also Senior Minister of State for Finance, said that the authorities aim to bring in 10 autonomous vehicles by the end of the year, and around 100 to 150 vehicles by the end of 2026.

Both Ms Sun and Mr Siow highlighted that safety is a key priority.

In theory, AVs should be safer as they are generally “more predictable than human drivers”, Mr Siow said.

However, current statistics on AV accidents are from abroad. As such, the authorities will test the AVs in Singapore in a “safe and controlled manner”. They will also use AI to understand how they function in Singapore’s environment, he said.

Ms Sun said that the vehicles will first go through “rigorous testing and familiarisation” before taking passengers.

The familiarisation process will start from next week and will take one to two months. It will be carried out through a suite of sensors and cameras installed on every vehicle, providing a 360-degree field of vision.

Once this process is completed, members of the community will be invited in stages to board the shuttle service for free to see how it works.

“Then later when we are more confident, when Punggol gives us this confidence, I will take them to Tengah too,” Mr Siow said, adding that the authorities hope to get feedback from the public.

Authorities have ramped up plans to roll out autonomous vehicles in Singapore.

The Ministry of Transport (MOT) announced in late July that a 17-member committee was formed to steer the progressive introduction of autonomous vehicles in Singapore.

MOT had said the committee, chaired by Mr Siow, will "adopt a whole-of-society approach” to ensure that AVs are safely integrated into Singapore's land transport system, create new jobs and improve everyday connectivity for residents.

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

All autonomous shuttles will have a safety operator on board.

Mr Siow said that Grab and ComfortDelGro have already set up academies to train driver partners who are keen to transition to new jobs, including safety operators, remote operators and fleet managers.

“Don’t worry, we will need human drivers for a long time yet. But if you think you, as a driver partner, if you think you want to try something new, try a new job in a new environment, the operators and the NTUC (National Trades Union Congress) will work with you,” he added.

According to Grab, training for Grab safety operators onboard their autonomous vehicles has been underway since August.

More than 10 of its driver-partners are undergoing training, and participants and trained on how the driving system works, emergency protocols and basic troubleshooting.

Mr Tony Lim, 43, was among the first batch of driver-partners to sign up. Prior to joining the training, he had worked as a private-hire driver for eight years. 

"My personal feeling is like, rickshaw become car. So car become autonomous. It's a natural thing," he said. "So we all should embrace it together."

Grab previously launched an autonomous shuttle bus service for its employees at one-north in July, operated in collaboration with Autonomous A2Z, a Korean AV manufacturer.

This time, the AVs at Punggol are operated in collaboration with WeRide, which is headquartered in Guangzhou. WeRide has launched autonomous shuttle bus services at Resorts World Sentosa since last year.

Grab’s autonomous vehicle service at Punggol will be called Ai.R, or Autonomously Intelligent Ride.

Grab COO Alex Hungate said that while pricing has not been decided yet, it will likely be somewhere "between public transport and ride-hailing". 

"The main thing is that the rides are attractive and affordable. We want the public to be enthusiastic about this new option," he added.

Meanwhile, ComfortDelGro’s autonomous shuttle service, Zig Driverless, will be operated in collaboration with Pony.ai.

This marks the first expansion to Singapore for Pony.ai, which operates fully driverless commercial robotaxi services in four cities in China.  

ComfortDelGro and Pony.ai carried out an AV pilot programme in Guangzhou in March this year.

Mr Cheng Siak Kian, managing director and group CEO of ComfortDelGro said the new shuttle service presents “exciting career opportunities” that will help attract younger talent to the transport industry.

Commuters can book the driverless rides on the ComfortDelGro Zig app when the service begins in early 2026.