Gizmos & Gadgets: Self-Driving Pods on Singapore Roads This Year

April 23, 2016 –  A joint venture between SMRT Services Pte. Ltd. and 2Getthere Holding B.V. announced plans to install, operate and maintain a fleet of automated vehicles on Singapore streets before the end of this year. The intention is to showcase the technology before rolling it out to other Asian cities.

The vehicles or pods are autonomous and operate in all kinds of weather conditions. The Singapore technology is described as 3rd Generation Group Rapid Transit (GRT). Each pod can carry up to 24 passengers per trip with the goal to handle 8,000 passengers per hour.

For SMRT Services the use of 2Getthere pods represents an integral part of what is a multi-modal transit strategy for Singapore. Fully automated driverless vehicles operate along dedicated networks of roads with high frequency service. The technology uses artificial landmark beacons to manage selected Singapore road networks.

2Getthere has been developing the technology since 1984 and installed its first people movers in 2002 at the Floriade horticultural exposition held in Haarlemmermeer, Netherlands (see image below). Since then the company has moved a 3rd generation of autonomously driven pod technology. A smaller version of the pods to be used in Singapore have been running in Abu Dhabi‘s Masdar City since 2010 over a 1.5 kilometer netowrk with 10 vehicles providing thousands of commutes daily. Unlike Floriade, the Masdar City installation is the first urban public GRT.

Although the GRTs implemented to date run on exclusive rights-of-way, the Singapore technology will operate in a network configuration providing both scheduled and on-demand options. Colin Lim, Managing Director for SMRT Services describes the 2Getthere technology as meeting first and last-mile connectivity in Singapore.