Volvo picks Singapore for first autonomous bus trials

Volvo is already active in autonomous mining, quarry and refuse collection operations, but the trial marks the company’s first foray into autonomous public transport.

The 40-seater Volvo 7900 electric buses to be deployed in Singapore will be equipped with technologies that include GPS and LIDAR laser technology systems for charting, positioning and detecting obstacles around the vehicle, and an integrated navigation system that includes automated steering, gear changing, and speed throttling technologies.

The buses will be tested from early 2019 at the Centre of Excellence for Testing and Research of Autonomous vehicles at NTU (CETRAN). The autonomous vehicle test circuit is modelled after real road conditions in Singapore and features a rain simulator and flood zone to test autonomous vehicles’ navigation abilities under tropical weather conditions.

The NTU and Volvo partnership is part of a collaboration between NTU and the Land Transport Authority (LTA) under the university’s living lab platform announced in October 2016. The living lab platform assesses technology maturity and road-worthiness, including the certification of the technologies for deployment on public roads.