More countries are starting to innovate their transportation sector by adopting automated vehicles or self-driving cars. Reports indicate that an autonomous vehicle start-up recently secured multimillion-dollar funding to boost its production and operations in the country.
An autonomous car is a vehicle capable of sensing its environment and operating without human involvement. A human passenger is not required to take control of the vehicle at any time, nor is a human passenger required to be present in the vehicle at all. An autonomous car can go anywhere a traditional car goes and do everything that an experienced human driver does.
Autonomous cars create and maintain a map of their surroundings based on a variety of sensors situated in different parts of the vehicle. Radar sensors monitor the position of nearby vehicles. Video cameras detect traffic lights, read road signs, track other vehicles, and look for pedestrians. Lidar (light detection and ranging) sensors bounce pulses of light off the car’s surroundings to measure distances, detect road edges, and identify lane markings. Ultrasonic sensors in the wheels detect curbs and other vehicles when parking.
Sophisticated software then processes all this sensory input, plots a path, and sends instructions to the car’s actuators, which control acceleration, braking, and steering. Hard-coded rules, obstacle avoidance algorithms, predictive modelling and object recognition help the software follow traffic rules and navigate obstacles.
The high-tech start-up in Singapore specialises in providing “vehicle agnostic” driverless software solutions for the urban environment and strives to be a leader in Asia-Pacific. The company is headquartered in Singapore, with offices in Malaysia and India. It is currently in discussions to expand to Europe and other APAC countries. The tech company is developing a component-based driverless software solution, which turns certain vehicles into autonomous vehicles, able to be deployed in different applications, such as first/last-mile transportation, logistic transportation, & utility solutions.
The tech company aims to revolutionise how people move around by building a brand-independent, cost-effective, fully autonomous and internet-enabled vehicle platform.
The tech’s target markets are the following:
- Hotels, resorts and theme parks
- Industrial parks, commercial offices and residential estates
- First and last-mile solutions
The company plans to use the new capital to accelerate the development, commercialisation, and international expansion of its driverless product. This involves deploying the solutions for public transportation and the urban environment, falling in line with the Sustainable Singapore Blueprint goal to achieve a cleaner and greener transport system in the city-state by 2030. The tech company is planning to replace existing infrastructure and develop innovative business solutions to make transportation sustainable through the adoption of clean and environmentally sound technologies.
Singapore’s Sustainable Blueprint says that integrated planning entails planners making use of digital planning tools to model future land-use scenarios using data from the whole of government. Singapore also embraces new and innovative technologies to explore new frontiers where no other city has gone before. The country embarked on ambitious projects such as the underground Deep Tunnel Sewerage System that crisscrosses the country to channel used water to centralised water reclamation plants. Singapore will be one of the first countries in the world to implement satellite-based electronic road pricing to manage traffic congestion.
Dynamic urban governance, meanwhile, means leading with vision and pragmatism, underpinned by a culture of integrity in the public service, and strong institutions with well-thought-out systems and processes. Government agencies engage the public and community groups, giving people a stake in their city’s long-term good. The agencies also work with the private sector to address certain gaps efficiently.
