SELF-DRIVING shuttles will hit the roads in Punggol by the start of the fourth quarter of 2025, as Singapore looks to kick-start a major autonomous vehicle push.

Acting Transport Minister Jeffrey Siow made this announcement on June 27 during a working visit to Guangzhou, China, weeks after he laid out broad plans to ramp up self-driving vehicle deployments in the next five years to strengthen Singapore’s public transport network.

Senior Minister of State for Transport Sun Xueling, who was also in Guangzhou, said a couple of initial routes in Punggol are being considered, based on feedback from residents.

“There are residents who live in Punggol West who would like to be able to more conveniently have access to amenities in Punggol East, for instance, the wet market (and) the polyclinic,” said Ms Sun, who is an MP for Punggol GRC.

“At the same time, we know there are residents who live in the eastern side of Punggol who want to have more convenient access to transport hubs like the bus interchange,” she added.

The exact details about the type of vehicles that will be deployed, the routes they will ply and the charges for each ride are still being worked out.

Mr Siow said the Minis­try of Transport (MOT) is in the midst of holding talks with potential operators and autonomous vehicle makers. These include public trans­port operators in Singapore – some of which have partners in China – as well as US self-driving taxi firm Waymo, whose executives Mr Siow and his colleagues will meet soon.

“We have many opti­ons, and because of the way we are doing it, I think there will be options for more than one operator to be able to come on board,” he said.

The goal is to get the first vehicles on the road by the start of the last quarter at the latest, he added. In the short term, the autonomous shuttles are expected to provide short, fixed-route services to various points within Housing Board estates, supplementing regular public bus services, taxis and private-hire vehicles.

In the medium term, this could be widened to include introducing services that are constrained by labour today, such as night buses, which can be run more frequently with driverless vehicles, Mr Siow said.

The Acting Minister added that the deployment of the autonomous shuttles will be done in steps, and the vehicles will not ferry any passengers until residents and road users are more comfortable with them.

Published in Dawn, June 30th, 2025