Singapore will put high-tech sensors on regular buses to make them driverless
So far, most self-driving bus trials have involved smaller pod-like vehicles trundling between short distances.
A new bus trial launched in Singapore aims to outfit regular large buses with clever technology, so they can operate along Singapore's busy main roads eventually.
The Land Transport Authority announced in a Facebook post that it will start an autonomous bus trial with two electric hybrid buses.
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The buses will have a host of sensors placed on them, and local college Nanyang Technological University will build the navigation software to control the buses.
Once ready, the buses will travel the roughly 1.4 kilometre distance between the university at Nanyang Avenue, and nearby CleanTech One industrial park for a field trial.
The government agency said the trial route will possibly be extended to the nearby Pioneer train station at a later date. It didn't specify, however, when the trial will commence.
Driverless car accident in Singapore
The driverless bus announcement, however, comes just days after one of Singapore's newly launched autonomous cars collided with a lorry.
On Wednesday, MIT spinoff Nutonomy said it would be halting its driverless trial while it investigates how the accident happened.
Nutonomy set up operations in Singapore about a year ago, and just a month ago started trialing its self-driving cars in a small business district park in the island state.
Victoria Ho is Mashable's Asia Editor, based in Singapore. She previously reported on news and tech at The Business Times, TechCrunch and ZDNet. When she isn't writing, she's making music with her band
