Driverless buses to ply routes in Marina Bay, one-north under $8.lm contract

The 16-seater buses will be used on services 191 and 400 from the second half of 2026

- Lee Nian Tjoe Senior Transport Correspondent

A consortium has won a contract to deploy driverless vehicles on two public bus services in Marina Bay and one-north from the second half of 2026.

Valued at around $8.1 million, the contract was awarded to the consortium comprising software and applications developer MKX Technologies, autonomous vehicle (AV) specialist Zhidao Network Technology (Beijing) and electric vehicle maker BYD.

It is part of Singapore’s push to deploy AVs across the island in the next five years to enhance the public transport network.

The contract includes six 16-seater electric buses, AV software and hardware, as well as associated systems needed to run the public bus services.

In its announcement on Oct 2, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said the vehicles will be piloted on public bus services 400 (Marina Bay) and 191 (one-north) for an initial period of three years.

Service 400 serves the Marina Bay and Shenton Way areas, stopping at Marina Bay Cruise Centre and Gardens by the Bay, as well as Shenton Way and Downtown MRT stations.

Service 191 plies the one-north area. Besides the Buona Vista bus terminal, it also stops at one-north and Buona Vista MRT stations.

After the six units are deployed, LTA can procure 14 more driverless buses from the consortium and expand the pilot to more public bus services in Singapore.