Singapore cancels driverless bus trials on public routes
Singapore is trending due to the Land Transport Authority's decision to cancel the deployment of six autonomous buses on public routes 400 and 191. The agency is now looking into narrower use cases, such as employee shuttles, before attempting wider public rollout.
What happened
- March 2026
The first autonomous bus arrives in Singapore and passes closed-circuit testing [1].
- 12 Oct, 2026
LTA announces it will not deploy the six autonomous buses on the planned SBS Transit routes [1].
What you need to know
The six 16-seater buses have already been delivered to Singapore [1].
The cancelled trials were intended for routes in Marina Bay, Shenton Way, and Buona Vista [1].
Original plans included having safety operators on board and real-time monitoring by LTA [1].
LTA is now exploring smaller trials for targeted groups, like staff shuttles [1].
The LTA has not yet provided specific details or dates for the new smaller-scale trials [1].
Background
The original trial aimed to test if self-driving technology was feasible for public bus fleets over a three-year period [1]. Routes 400 and 191 were selected because they were considered simple and short [1].
Globally, autonomous bus projects have seen mixed results. In the UK, a project in Scotland was stopped in February 2025 because passenger numbers were too low [2].
Questions people ask
Which bus routes were affected by the cancellation?
The autonomous buses will no longer be deployed on SBS Transit routes 191 and 400 [1].
Are the autonomous buses still in Singapore?
Yes, all six buses have been delivered, and five are currently preparing for tests [1].
Where this came from
[1] straitstimes.com
Plan to test driverless buses on 2 SBST routes called off as LTA explores smaller-scale trials
Preview image from straitstimes.com
[2] sustainable-bus.com
Alexander Dennis to introduce SAE Level 4 autonomous buses in Cambridge under £3.88 million project
Preview image from sustainable-bus.com
Found through Google Trends and drafted with AI from at least two cited sources. Published automatically after passing our automated checks for sources, wording and safety. It may not have been reviewed by a person yet. Report a correction.