Parents of young children in Punggol were particularly worried after a schoolgirl was nearly hit by an autonomous vehicle while crossing a road.
The designated pick-up location for the autonomous vehicles at Punggol Coast Mall on Nov 9, 2026. (Photo: CNA/Syamil Sapari)
The designated pick-up location for the autonomous vehicles at Punggol Coast Mall on Nov 9, 2026. (Photo: CNA/Syamil Sapari)
SINGAPORE: After two near misses involving autonomous vehicles (AVs) in Punggol on Thursday (Nov 5), residents told CNA they had safety concerns but were open to trials continuing once the incidents were reviewed.
In one incident, a young girl was crossing the road at a traffic junction when a Grab AV appeared to come close to hitting her while making a discretionary left turn. A video of the incident was posted on the Facebook group SG Road Vigilante.
A separate dashcam video posted on SGRV Admin on Sunday showed a ComfortDelGro (CDG) AV turning into the path of an approaching vehicle as it attempted to make a U-turn at a junction in Punggol Field. The incident also took place on Nov 5.
In both cases, the vehicles involved were testing new routes for enhanced on-demand services rather than operating on their existing fixed shuttle routes.
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The Land Transport Authority (LTA) is investigating both incidents. It directed Grab to pause testing at such junctions until investigations are completed and told CDG to pause U-turns at the Punggol Field junction as a precaution.
The incidents were not the first involving an AV in Punggol this year. In January, a ComfortDelGro AV collided with a road divider while undergoing testing. LTA later found that the collision occurred after the safety officer took manual control of the vehicle.
The Ministry of Transport (MOT) has said AVs are being trialled in Singapore to augment the public transport network. In Punggol, the fixed-route shuttles complement existing services by bringing residents more directly from residential estates to key amenities such as MRT stations and polyclinics.
Singapore's AV deployment remains at an early stage, with 15 passenger AVs operating in Punggol as of Nov 3, according to MOT.
Of the 12 Punggol residents interviewed by CNA, parents of young children were particularly concerned about the safety of AVs following the recent incidents.
“I’m definitely a bit worried and a bit sceptical about boarding the autonomous vehicles with my family,” said Mr Tan Kar Yeow, 46, whose children are five years old and eight months old.
“Even when you’re not on board the vehicle, you’re just crossing the road normally with your young kids, you will have to keep a special lookout for the autonomous vehicles,” he said.
The research engineer said industrial areas or university campuses where there are fewer young children may be more suitable for testing such technology.
Mr Amri Hakim Mohamed Alias, 41, and his wife said they would not mind riding on AVs, but they try to stay away from them when out with their three children.
They teach their children to wait for vehicles to come to a complete stop before crossing a road and said the same rule applies for AVs.
Ms Nurul Farhah Zulkiflee, 28, who lives near the junction where the Grab AV nearly hit a schoolgirl, said she was shocked and scared when she saw the news.
“I don’t want my niece or nephew to be involved in a (similar) incident,” she said.
Some residents who drive said the AVs move quite slowly and they feel wary of driving near them.
“I try to avoid them,” said civil servant Mr Teo, 37. He said he does not trust the technology yet and feels the AVs are less predictable.
TRIALS SHOULD CONTINUE
Despite concerns about safety, the residents who spoke to CNA were largely supportive of trials continuing, even though some did not intend to use the services themselves.
“Testing has to continue, you can’t really stop,” said Mr Yang Lou, 59.
The purpose of trials was to uncover problems before a wider rollout, giving operators the chance to address them and "go back to the drawing board" if necessary, he said, adding that such testing was "essential".
Asked how he felt about living with AVs in his neighbourhood, Mr Lou, a tutor, said someone needs to be the first, and it makes sense for it to be Punggol as the town is getting more crowded.
While testing in a newer and less crowded town such as Tengah might be safer, it would not provide as realistic a test environment as Punggol, he added.
Another Punggol resident who gave his name as Mr Heng said he likes having AVs in Punggol.
“I take a lot of pride in our neighbourhood being right at the forefront of innovation and tech in Singapore,” he said.
The 29-year-old, who works in the healthcare industry, said he supported a brief, targeted safety pause in the trials but that Singapore should not overreact at the first sign of trouble because trials are unlikely to be completely smooth sailing.
“The focus needs to stay on learning from these incidents and improving the systems,” he said.
STATE OF PLAY IN SINGAPORE
Grab's self-driving shuttle services, operated in partnership with WeRide, opened to the public on Apr 1 after trials in Punggol began in September 2025.
The ComfortDelGro shuttles, operated in partnership with Pony.ai, launched in June this year.
In LTA's post-ride surveys in July, 99 per cent of about 900 respondents said they felt safe during their ride and would recommend it to others.
As of September this year, Grab's AV fleet had travelled more than 110,000km autonomously on Singapore roads and served more than 12,000 unique riders, the company said. CDG, meanwhile, said its Zig Driverless service has crossed 10,000 rides in Punggol.
Driverless vehicles were first trialled on public roads in Singapore in one-north as early as 2015.
The Centre of Excellence for Testing and Research of AVs-NTU was also established in 2016, with a two-hectare test centre designed to replicate the different elements of Singapore’s roads, launched the following year.
AVs have also been deployed in other areas of Singapore, including the WeRide Robobus at Resorts World Sentosa and MooVita at Ngee Ann Polytechnic.
On Monday in Punggol, CNA was unable to book a driverless ride on the Zig app by ComfortDelGro.
A notice said no shuttles were available, either because of high demand or lack of shuttle availability for the route.
CNA also waited at the autonomous shuttle pick-up point for 30 minutes, but no vehicles from Grab arrived.
The designated pick-up location for the autonomous vehicles at Punggol Coast Mall on Nov 9, 2026. (Photo: CNA/Syamil Sapari)
Grab previously said it would pilot an on-demand autonomous vehicle service in Punggol that would allow riders to book an AV to travel directly between pick-up and drop-off points, instead of following a fixed route as it currently does.
It also said it planned to expand its fleet and extend its services beyond Punggol.