Opening Speech by Minister for Transport Mr Chee Hong Tat at Singapore International Transport Congress & Exhibition 2024

Ms Renee Amilcar, President of the International Association of Public Transport (UITP),

Mr Alan Chan, Chairman LTA

Delegates and participants from around the world,

Distinguished guests,

Introduction

1.     On behalf of the Government of Singapore, I would like to warmly welcome everyone to the biennial Singapore International Transport Congress & Exhibition. This is an important event that brings together policymakers, researchers and professionals working on urban transport from all over the world, to meet and discuss ideas that help tackle our urban mobility challenges.

2.     The theme of this year’s congress is “Smarter Journeys for Sustainable Cities”. As we know, cities are defined by, and derive their value from density.  Density presents cities with the challenge of transporting large numbers of people and high volumes of goods to their destinations, as efficiently as possible. Gridlocks and congestions can paralyse cities and hold them back from achieving their societal and economic potential. 

3.     In addition, many transport systems worldwide, including Singapore, face increasing environmental and manpower constraints.  We need to significantly reduce transport-related carbon emissions. With an ageing population, we also need to address the shortage of workers, including drivers.

4.     Technology will continue to be a key lever. For example, the potential for electric vehicles to lower transport emissions is widely acknowledged.  However, achieving this goal goes beyond the technology. As Ms Amilcar mentioned earlier, not only is technology a key driver, we need to think beyond technology. It also needs to be publicly accepted, widely deployed, and facilitated by a supportive eco-system that includes infrastructure, regulations, and manpower who are equipped with the relevant skillsets.

5.     This is what we have sought to do in Singapore to support the adoption of EVs. We are deploying EV chargers across all public housing carparks and supporting the installation of chargers in private condominiums. We introduced the Electric Vehicles Charging Act to regulate the safe charging of EVs, ensure the provision of reliable EV charging services, and expand the network of accessible charging infrastructure. This is still a work in progress – my colleague, Senior Minister of State, Dr Amy Khor, gave an update recently on the progress we have made on the installation of chargers. This  is something that we will continue to expand. We are also partnering the industry and training institutions to equip our workforce with the skills to handle and maintain EVs safely.

6.     We are still in the early stages of the transition, but the trends so far have been encouraging. Let me give you some statistics. In 2020, only 0.2 per cent of new car registrations were EVs. As of end September 2024, about one-third of new car registrations are EVs. 

7.     We have also made important steps to electrify our public bus fleet, which comprises a total of almost 6,000 buses. For a start, LTA has procured 420 electric buses and awarded contracts to deploy EV Charging Systems in Sengkang West, East Coast and Gali Batu bus depots. The new electric buses will progressively be deployed from next month. So, our commuters can see more of these electric buses running on the roads. We already have some on the roads but now will now be giving a bigger push in scaling up the production of electric buses. LTA will be placing orders for more electric buses over time, as we work towards electrifying half of our public bus fleet by 2030. 

Risk-Managed Approach to Deploy AVs in Singapore

8.     Another area we are working on is the use of Autonomous Vehicles, or AVs. The technological and deployment trajectory has however been much slower than earlier anticipated, and there is increasing recognition that it may not be possible to completely remove humans from the process for safety reasons. Remote human supervisors are needed to help the AV navigate ‘edge cases’, even though a remote supervisor could supervise multiple AVs at the same time, so there is still a productivity gain compared to having one driver per vehicle.

9.     Both the US and China have made significant progress in the deployment of AVs in real-world commercial use cases. Their companies are the world leaders in this domain.  In 2023, there were more than 1,600 AVs, mainly robo-taxis, operating in California. China currently has more than 18 testing regions and 3,000 AVs in operation, deployed across a range of use cases, such as unmanned parcel delivery, robo-taxis, robo-buses and robo-sweepers.  In many of these cases, there is no safety driver in the AV, and it is monitored remotely by a safety operator. Other countries such as Japan and the UAE have also announced plans to deploy commercial AV services on public roads. 

10.    Singapore started facilitating on-road AV trials in 2015, almost ten years ago. Since then, we have built up our technical standards and testing capabilities at the Centre of Excellence for Testing & Research of Autonomous Vehicles (CETRAN). With safety as our top priority, we will be taking calibrated steps to pilot the deployment of more mature AV solutions for commercial use cases in Singapore. This will be supported by a testing and assessment framework, deployment strategy, as well as skills and training roadmap for our workers.  

11.    Some may ask if Singapore could move more quickly on this front, since the technology has improved significantly and had been tested in other countries.  We do want to move faster, and this is what the latest set of moves are intended to achieve.  However, it is important to do so safely in our dense urban environment, and to also ensure that the different elements of our ecosystem are ready.   

Test Mature AV Technologies in Local Context

12.    The original testing framework implemented at CETRAN focused on the testing of early-stage AV technologies. LTA has since developed a revised testing and assessment framework for mature technologies that have been already deployed overseas, as we shift our emphasis towards the safe and effective adoption of more mature AV technologies as a smart user.    

13.    The revised framework will remain data-driven – it will consider the track record of the overseas deployment, put the AVs through an in-circuit assessment under local conditions, and then allow for deployment on pre-determined real-world routes. The determination of routes will be based on the actual use case needs as well as the difficulty of the routes from the AV technology point of view. Not all routes are equally challenging; some are more challenging than others, so we have to start off with the ones that are less challenging, and build up the confidence and experience before we extend to other routes. This is a sensible approach that is similar to what other countries have done. Conditions such as the speed and time of deployment will be agreed upfront with the owner of the use case. For example, we can begin by trialling later at night, when traffic is less heavy, so that it is less risky and challenging. 

14.    LTA will closely monitor the performance data of the AV and assess its ability to operate safely and reliably in our local environment, including under heavy rain. The routes can be expanded progressively based on scale and difficulty, subject to the performance and track record of the AV.

15.    LTA will share more about the revised framework with the industry. The key point I want to make is that we are committed and determined to make AV technology work well and safely in our local environment. The best way to do this is to take a calibrated and data driven approach, and to risk manage - starting with trials on routes that are less challenging so that we can make adjustments along the way before we expand and scale.

Facilitate Autonomous Logistics Use Cases

16.    We will adopt a phased deployment approach for AV technologies across different use cases. In the near-term, we will focus on use cases involving autonomous logistics vehicles and minibuses. 

17.    These domains allow for scalable deployment along fixed routes, and mature AV solutions have been deployed commercially overseas. The deployment risks can be more carefully managed with lower vehicle speeds and time of use. For example, we do not have to activate road sweepers during peak hours. We can activate them during the night when the traffic is less heavy. Equally importantly, these use cases can help address our pressing manpower challenges in the logistics and public transport sectors, where it has been challenging for operators to hire drivers.

18.    LTA has given approval for the deployment of AVs on public roads for two industry use cases proposed by Chye Thiam Maintenance Pte Ltd and FairPrice Group. Both their AVs have been deployed with a good track record overseas and have passed the in-circuit test locally at CETRAN. In both cases, the companies identified a business need, a compatible AV partner, and developed their use case commercially. LTA piloted the revised testing and assessment framework on these use cases and also set up an AV Monitoring System to collect and analyse the trial data.

19.    Chye Thiam is partnering WeRide to deploy electric robo-sweepers at Airline Road and Marina Coastal Drive. FairPrice Group is partnering Zelos Technology to deploy electric autonomous logistics vehicles, to transfer palletised goods between its Benoi and Joo Koon distribution centres. 

20.    The AVs will lower Chye Thiam and FairPrice Group’s carbon emissions, reduce man-hours spent on manual tasks, and free up their employees to focus on more complex activities that cannot be done through automation. This is important because we are not viewing the introduction of technologies like AVs to replace and substitute human workers, but to augment our workforce, to help our workers be able to do their jobs more productively and to reskill our workers to take on roles that cannot be done by machines. LTA is also ready to work with other interested companies to assess and facilitate their autonomous logistics use cases. 

Study Deployment of Autonomous Minibus

21.    Concurrently, LTA has also studied the deployment of autonomous minibuses, starting with less technically challenging bus routes with lower traffic and ridership. We can expand to other more challenging routes after we have gained some experience with these initial trials.  LTA will purchase some autonomous minibuses to deploy in Singapore, together with a partner public bus operator. The minibuses will have a safety driver on board in the initial stages and be monitored for safety and reliability over a period, before we transit to having a remote safety operator instead, like what we see in overseas deployments. 

22.    Some may ask: why not try robo-taxis? There has been some industry interest in this. We are open to the use of robo-taxis and will be happy to explore proposals from the industry. However, it is more challenging to operate robo-taxis which travel on different routes to provide point-to-point services, compared to AVs travelling on fixed-routes, such as autonomous minibuses and logistics vehicles. For a start, we thought we would take a more risk-managed and calibrated approach, because safety is our priority. We will start the trials on public roads with vehicles that travel on fixed routes.  This can include robo-taxis that are run on fixed routes. If there are operators that think that this is commercially viable and you want to pilot these proposals, please let LTA know.

23.    As technology continues to mature and public confidence grows, we will be able to scale up deployment across more routes and more use cases, including the possibility of full-fledged robo-taxis in future.  But we will do so only when we can adequately address the safety and operational risks in our local environment, which will require further trials, data collection and assessment.

24.    This does not mean a ‘risk-free’ or ‘zero-accident’ approach. Traffic accidents do happen today with human drivers, often due to driver-related behaviours. Hence, our comparison benchmark for AVs cannot be zero-accident.  Before any AVs are put on the road, they will be programmed, tested and trialled thoroughly to minimise the risks. However, just as with human drivers, we must be mentally prepared that there will be some accidents involving AVs. When that happens, we will investigate – study the data, identify the factors, learn from the experience, consider if adjustments are needed before deciding if the AV is still safe to operate on our roads. We must conduct our trials safely, but it does not mean we have zero tolerance for any accidents because that is also not the case with human drivers.

25.    If we do not want to accept any risk at all, insisting on a zero-accident outcome, it will mean that we will not be able to deploy new technologies like AVs in Singapore and we will, over time, fall behind other cities.  Our approach cannot be to insist on “fail-safe”, but to design our systems to minimise risks and if failure were to happen, it will be “safe-fail”. 

Tripartite Approach to Upskill Workers

26.    I mentioned the importance of taking an ecosystem approach, so that different elements within our ecosystem will be ready when we make the transition.  As we deploy AVs, we will invest in training and upskilling of our workers to work with AVs safely and effectively. 

27.    LTA, the National Transport Workers’ Union (NTWU), and Public Transport Operators had worked together to develop a skills and training roadmap for autonomous buses. The autonomous bus may not require a bus captain at the wheel. However, new roles such as remote safety operators, in-vehicle customer service officers, fleet managers, as well as a range of technical functions will be required when we make the transition. We will prepare and train our workers for these new roles so that we bring them along this journey and not leave them behind. We want to make sure that this transition is one we make together with our stakeholders.

Conclusion

28.    Ladies and gentlemen, AVs are but one of many technologies that have potential to enable smarter journeys for sustainable cities. Across the three days here, I am confident that you will have many productive discussions on how we can work together to realise the potential of these technologies and enhance the commuting experience for our citizens, across the road, rail and bus transport systems.

29.    I wish everyone a fruitful and enjoyable SITCE 2024. Thank you!