TWO consortia in Singapore will be undertaking the design, development and trial of driverless vehicles for road cleaning, having been awarded research and development projects by the National Environment Agency and the Ministry of Transport .
The two consortia will develop and trial one"autonomous environmental service vehicle" each, and apply autonomous vehicle technology to commercial mechanical road sweepers. This will be carried out over 18 months, which includes a one-year development phase, followed by a proof-of-concept trial over six months.
The proposals were selected out of eight proposals, based on their potential to fulfil various government objectives for deploying the vehicles, their prior experience in developing AV technologies, and familiarity with road cleaning operations in Singapore. These government objectives include safety as a priority with minimal disruption to the public, effective cleaning of public roads, reduction of reliance on manpower, as well as environmental friendliness.