Ms Sun, who is a Member of Parliament for Punggol GRC, said that MOT has looked at residents’ feedback so far in assessing the routes in Punggol.
“For instance, there are residents who stay in Punggol West who would like to be able to more conveniently have access to amenities in Punggol East, for instance, like the wet market, the polyclinic.
“At the same time, we know there are residents who stay in the eastern side in Punggol who want to have more convenient access to transport hubs like the bus interchange, the MRT station.”
The AVs will be able to help them travel to the transport hubs and amenities, she added.
If the trial in Punggol is successful, the ministry can then look at other places at the turn of the year, said Mr Siow, adding that Tengah could be the next location.
Noting that Tengah is designed to be a car-lite and public transport-heavy town, he said: “I think it’s a place where autonomous vehicles will be very, very useful.
“We can design in some of the things that we will do in terms of transport infrastructure in Tengah, as the roads are being built.”
In the medium term, AVs can also help alleviate manpower constraints, he said, citing an example of using the vehicles to run night buses more often.
