Length of Test Routes Doubled Since 2015

CCTVs, Beacons and Other Infrastructure Ready to Support On-Road Trials 
 

    Since January 2015, the Land Transport Authority (LTA), in partnership with JTC, has designated one-north as the first Autonomous Vehicle (AV) test-bed in Singapore, where interested applicants can test out their vehicles’ navigation control on public roads. Currently, there are four distinct local and international parties carrying out regular autonomous vehicle on-road testing at one-north.

Doubling the length of test routes

2.  As the test-bed participants continue to develop and strengthen their expertise and capabilities, LTA has been working closely with JTC to further identify more roads around one-north’s Biopolis, Fusionopolis and Mediapolis to expand the test-bed boundaries as the next progressive step to provide sufficiently-challenging test routes. From September 2016, the test routes open to participants have been doubled in length from the original 6km to a 12km network within one-north.

Infrastructure to support on-road trials

3.  To monitor the trials’ progress and support the on-road tests, LTA has progressively implemented infrastructure along the test route in phases since July 2016. These include:

• CCTVs: A network of CCTVs has been implemented at 20 locations to allow LTA to monitor and study the behaviour and on-the-ground challenges of AVs at critical locations such as traffic junctions and road bends. Video footages from the CCTV cameras can also serve as an independent source of evidence during an investigation should an incident occur.

• DSRC beacons: DSRC beacons will progressively be implemented at 10 road junctions in one-north. The beacons will enhance the AV’s way-finding ability by broadcasting information such as Traffic Light Signal, Position Augmentation information as well as traffic conditions in the vicinity such as the location of nearby roadworks and/or traffic incidents.

• Backend system: A backend system housed at LTA’s Intelligent Transport Systems Centre will serve as a platform to analyse and evaluate the AVs’ performance using the data generated by the AVs together with the CCTV footage captured. It will serve as a monitoring platform to monitor the AVs and send out alerts when the AV is travelling in autonomous mode outside of permitted boundaries. It will also manage the flow of information between the test vehicles and road infrastructure system.

4.  Please refer to the Annex for photos and an illustration of the backend system’s processes, as well as a map of the expanded one-north test-bed and locations of the CCTVs and beacons.

Safety framework in place

5.  To ensure the safety of road users, all AV prototypes have to go through a basic safety demonstration tests before they are allowed to be tested on the public roads in one-north. In addition, qualified safety drivers have to be on board at all times, ready to take over immediate control of the vehicles when necessary. These vehicles are not allowed to be driven in autonomous mode out of the approved test-site boundaries.

6.  The test vehicles are also required to display a decal to indicate that they are AVs being tested. Signage have also been erected within one-north to display information on the testing of AVs.

7.  To look into the development of testing standards and regulation for AVs, LTA in partnership with the Nanyang Technological University, launched the Centre of Excellence for Testing & Research of AVs – NTU (CETRAN) and Test Circuit at CleanTech Park in August this year. The development of such guidelines will pave the way for the widespread deployment of AVs in the future, by ensuring that AVs can be safely integrated with existing road traffic.