RWS driverless bus service gets green light to run without safety officer

In a first for Singapore, autonomous vehicle (AV) firm WeRide has been given permission to operate a self-driving shuttle bus service at Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) without any safety personnel on board.

- Kok Yufeng Transport Correspondent and Samantha Lee

Singapore's Land Transport Authority (LTA) gave the firm the green light after extensive testing and safety assessments of WeRide's remote operations and on-road performance here, said the Guangzhou-based company on July 17.

The company said this is also the first time in South-east Asia that AVs have been permitted to operate without an on-board safety officer.

Its eight-seater driverless bus, fitted with a suite of cameras and light detection and ranging sensors, has been plying a fixed 12-minute route within the RWS integrated resort since June 2024.

The company said it has completed thousands of trips and ferried tens of thousands of passengers without any incident.

In January, WeRide was allowed to remove the steering wheel and pedals from the vehicle, but a safety officer was still required to be on board to intervene in case of an emergency.