Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA) recently revealed its process on testing autonomous vehicles (AV) before they are deployed. To operate in the city-state, a company must first receive authorisation from the LTA. Then, its vehicles will undergo a series of tests and evaluations by the LTA.
Currently, there have been 104 evaluations conducted, 50 authorised organisations, and 19 deployed AVs in Singapore. The most known of these approved AVs are the WeRide Robobus fleet and the fleet of Auto Rider AVs at the Gardens by the Bay.
BACKGROUND
The LTA revealed its evaluation process to news outlets last week, on the 25th of September on Nanyang Technological University (NTU) grounds. The university is the site of all AV evaluations as it has a track based on Singapore’s public roads, outfitted with stoplights, pedestrian lanes, and traffic signs. Furthermore,
According to NTU’s Energy Research Institute’s COO and senior program director, Niels de Boer, the fleet of AVs currently undergoing evaluation were developed and manufactured abroad. While there are still no global safety standards for operating AVs, he emphasised the importance of testing these vehicles for function on Singapore roads and traffic rules.
“Traffic behaves differently everywhere,” de Boer said. “Traffic lights have small differences. We have yellow boxes, which most countries don’t have. We see – quite often – that vehicles don’t recognise the small turning arrow, because the turning arrows don’t exist in many other countries,” he explained further.
INITIAL TESTING
At the beginning of evaluation, each AV is tested for deployable or developmental solutions, including Level 4 autonomous driving system and records of the vehicle’s mileage and other incidents.
Companies must also comply with requirements set by the LTA. Each AV must have a data recorder to track any possible incidents and only operate within its specified geofenced area. This geofenced area is approved by the LTA beforehand. Most importantly, organisations with fleets of AV must also have qualified safety operators onboard.
Once approved and authorised, the vehicles undergo the M1 test on NTU’s track. The test includes “stopping for dynamic and static obstacles, manual takeovers and emergency stops.”
The next step is a public road test with a safety officer in the driver’s seat. The public road test is limited to its declared route in the operator’s application. This route will also be demonstrated to the LTA and Singapore’s traffic police.
FINAL STAGES
The final portion of the AV evaluation is divided into two stages. The first stage assesses the vehicle’s readiness for real-world conditions, such as adaptation to traffic and weather conditions, behaviour around other vehicles, and readiness to prompt its safety operator in the driver’s seat.
The last stage assesses emergency features such as remote operations, communications, situational awareness, and fallback control. Additional assessments include maintenance planning, operator training, quality and change management and lastly, safety checks including cybersecurity. In the final stage, the safety operator is limited to nly using the emergency stop button.
After the vehicle has passed all evaluations, the LTA will authorise it for deployment on its approved route. Though the vehicle will operate without a safety operator, it will still be closely monitored remotely.
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