Strengthening Safety and Handover Protocols for Deployment of Self-Driving Shuttle Buses
Ministry of TransportSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns the safety protocols and liability regimes for self-driving shuttle buses raised by Mr Christopher de Souza. Senior Minister of State Jeffrey Siow responded that operators must submit safety plans evaluated by the Land Transport Authority and the Centre of Excellence for Testing and Research of Autonomous Vehicles – NTU. Public trials include a passenger-free familiarisation phase for vehicle calibration and operator training under the Road Traffic Act 1961 regulatory sandbox. While operators must currently maintain third-party liability insurance, the Government is holistically reviewing these regimes with industry stakeholders and legal practitioners. This review aims to strengthen existing frameworks through the introduction of autonomous vehicle-specific legislation to ensure robust safety and accountability.
Transcript
32 Mr Christopher de Souza asked the Acting Minister for Transport in light of the roll out of self-driving shuttle buses (a) whether there is a need to strengthen safety and handover protocols involving autonomous vehicles; and (b) whether liability and insurance regimes that are in place should be further tightened.
Mr Jeffrey Siow: Autonomous Vehicle (AV) operators must submit detailed plans on the safety operators' (SOs') role, interaction protocols with the vehicle, conditions requiring manual takeover or emergency brakes and incident response procedures. The Land Transport Authority (LTA) and the Centre of Excellence for Testing and Research of Autonomous Vehicles – NTU (CETRAN) jointly evaluate the plans before the AVs are authorised to be deployed on public roads.
During public trials, AVs will first undergo familiarisation without passengers to calibrate to the local road conditions, while SOs gain more practical experience on the AVs' operations and response patterns.
AV trials are currently governed by the regulatory sandbox under the Road Traffic Act 1961 as well as the Road Traffic (Autonomous Motor Vehicles) Rules 2017. LTA requires AV operators to maintain liability insurance covering third-party death, bodily injury and property damage for the entire duration of any trial.
The Government is working with key stakeholders (for example, industry, insurers and legal practitioners) to review the liability and insurance regimes more holistically, including through introducing AV-specific legislation.