The Singapore Land Transport Authority is working with Delphi to test a fleet of autonomous Audi vehicles on its roads this year.
In addition to providing the vehicles, Delphi will also supply Singapore with the software needed for a mobile-on-demand program similar to Uber and Lyft.
Three fixed routes will be utilized for the six autonomous Audi SQ5s Delphi will provide, which will span approximately 5 miles total.
To begin the testing program, there will be a human on board to prevent any accidents, but having a human driver present will be fazed out over time as the testing progresses.
Glen DeVos, vice president of engineering for Delphi, says, “It allows us to demonstrate that we have the complete ecosystem, knowledge and capability, the vehicle, the sensors, the automated software controlling connectivity to the cloud, the management of the fleet, the data and analytics on how the vehicle is performing.”
“For these systems to be successful, people have to be excited about using them. We don’t tend to talk about how the consumer feels about it. You have to implement it in a way that the consumer feels excited to use,” DeVos adds.
At the moment, the autonomous Audi vehicles are set to run through tests in Singapore for three years, where with enough success a full commercial deployment is expected to take place by 2022.
