Many bots, few instructors: It's a long wait for driving lessons

Some students resort to using automated bots, while others pay for slots on Carousell

- Elaine Lee

Ms Joylene Chen enrolled at the ComfortDelGro Driving Centre (CDC) in November 2024, thinking she would get a licence to drive an automatic car within six months.

Seven months later, the 25-year-old is still far from her goal, but not for lack of trying.

The finance executive has managed to book only three practical lessons so far — after paying $30 to secure them using a Telegram bot, which is programmed to track available slots in the CDC's booking system.

She is not alone. Many other students have also had to resort to using automated bots, or paying someone on local online marketplace Carousell, to snag these lessons.

A private driving instructor who declined to be named said that, out of desperation, his students sometimes pay others on Carousell $30 to $50 per slot.

"This is a very unhealthy practice," he told The Straits Times.

The three driving schools here have long acknowledged the issue, and have suspended for up to three months accounts found to have used bots and scripts.

CDC said it suspended 214 errant accounts in 2024. The Singapore Safety Driving Centre (SSDC) said it has also suspended accounts, but declined to reveal more data.

Bukit Batok Driving Centre (BBDC) suspended 6,000 accounts in 2024, and another 6,500 between 2022 and 2023.

But, despite the centres' efforts, the bots are still everywhere.

A 20-year-old student told ST that he hired an overseas programmer to build a bot not just to book his own slots, but also to offer it to others at a price.

"I charge between $50 and $70, depending on how specific my customers' requests are," he said, adding that he does not plan to stop this "service", which allows him to make a four-figure sum a month.

According to lawyers whom ST spoke to, there are currently no legal penalties for bot builders and users.

Hence, the best bet for driving centres is to deter them with advanced security features.