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Waymo in Singapore
- cranky908canuck 16d agoMust be early in the process, most if not all the photos and graphics where the driving side is visible show North American side driving.
- goatsi 16d agoThey are apparently up to two years out from carrying passengers "Waymo said it will introduce its fully autonomous, all-electric ride-hailing service in Singapore via the Waymo app by 2028. An initial fleet of all-electric Jaguar I-PACE vehicles is expected to arrive in the coming months, it said. Mapping and validation activities are scheduled for 2027, with trained autonomous specialists conducting initial manual driving to adapt the Waymo Driver to local road geometry, monsoon weather patterns, and more. " https://mothership.sg/2026/09/waymo-self-driving-cars-singapore-2028/ https://mothership.sg/2026/09/waymo-self-driving-cars-singap...
- vineyardmike 16d agoWhat do you mean? There’s very few images of a car driving, but the roads seem to be correct. Some of the images are definitely generic marketing copy and not Singapore specific, but it seems fairly obvious which ones. Unless you mean the steering wheel is on the wrong side, but that seems like it wouldn’t matter for an autonomous vehicle.
- cranky908canuck 15d agoRHD vs LHD is the issue. Waymo has "300+ million kilometres of experience" that will all be on the wrong side of the road. I would not be confident of human driving with a lifetime of experience with one not screwing up the other; more confident of one with regularly maintained experience of both (IOW, aware of switching back and forth).
- rottencupcakes 16d agoSingapore has the potential to be the first country to eliminate the private ownership of vehicles.
- tristanj 16d agoSingapore will not be the first. Albania banned private vehicle ownership for over 40 years until 1991.
- deleted 16d ago[deleted]
- evbogue 16d agoSingapore would do better banning cars altogether.
- throwaway473825 16d agoIsn't it better to allow a few luxury cars that are taxed to oblivion? As long as there aren't too many cars, the city can be pleasant, and it's a nice source of revenue.
- Gigachad 16d agoWhat I have heard of the situation is car infrastructure is disproportionally funded because it's used by the rich and influential. It's a drain on public resources when more is spent building huge highways everywhere that the average person can't afford to use.
- zhivota 16d agoWhile this is true, it's not as bad as somewhere like the US. Public transit gets a lot of funding there, I think they open something like 10 new MRT stations a year on average in recent years, and buses typically come every 2-8 minutes so you never have to wait long.
- eru 16d ago
- vachina 16d agoThis thing is DOA if it only does predetermined route, which I think is what's going to happen.
- danpalmer 16d agoWhy do you think that? Waymo hasn't done that anywhere else.
- shell0x 16d agoA basic commuter car costs over S180,000( US135,000) due to a compulsory 10-year quota license (COE/certificate of entitlement) that alone costs S$100,000+, plus registration taxes scaling up to 320% of the car's base value. Total running costs (tolls, parking, road tax) easily add S1,000–S2,000+ per month. Singapore is so small though and cabs are cheap and I never needed a car. I can see why Waymo will be very attractive.
- vachina 16d agoIf you never needed a car in Singapore then why is the COE so expensive? COE price is determined from a bidding process.
- shell0x 16d agoI said I never needed a car there :) I can get anywhere by cab in like < 30 mins so I never saw the need to have one. However there are plenty of ultra rich people living there and also many driving luxury cars. It's also a status symbol there(Credit card/Condo/Car).
- eru 16d agoCondos are for the middle class. Landed property is the status symbol (but, alas, it doesn't start with a C.) Btw, the cab obviously need to bid for CoE as well.
- ValentineC 16d agoIn the 80s and 90s when the housing market was more immature, I believe condos and landed property were around the same price, and condos were seen as somewhat more prestigious because it came with private facilities.
- eru 16d agoProbably. The classic 5 Cs are quite out of date in general: a credit card is no longer a status symbol, when anyone can get one.
- orsenthil 16d agoSingapore is a controlled economy, and has a large workforce for Taxi Drivers and part-time drivers through Grab. I am not sure how the entrenchment of robotaxis like Waymo (and future tesla) is going to play with the general population. My guess, they will co-exist as the government wont jeopardize the living of the taxi-driver-complaining uncles. Also, I notice a lot new SF based AI companies have started establishing their offices in Singapore too. Sierra, and Fireworks coming to my mind. As government plays a huge part in Singapore, I guess, government noticing these as necessary investments for the future of Singapore.
- yellow_lead 16d ago> Singapore is a controlled economy Singapore is a mixed economy [1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Singapore https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Singapore
- eru 16d agoAnd a lot closer to the capitalist side than eg Germany or the US.
- MiroslavPokorny 16d agoSingapore is also soon becoming a failed society. Millions of citizens cant afford to rent and travel by the thousands to nearby Malaysia to buy basic food essentials.
- hdgvhicv 16d agoIs there a shortage of hdb housing, or is the price simply too high for 30% of the population?
- eru 16d ago> Millions of citizens cant afford to rent You know that Singapore has one of the highest home ownership rates in the world? Most people don't rent, because their family owns the place. > and travel by the thousands to nearby Malaysia to buy basic food essentials. You say that like it's a bad thing? People traveling to Malaysia to buy stuff that's cheaper is perfectly compatible with Singaporeans being well-off. You'd need to bring some other evidence to argue that Singapore is a 'failed society'.
- jnaina 16d agoCars are extremely expensive in Singapore, and driving here is becoming increasingly frustrating, what with constant road congestions, seemingly endless roadworks, and inconsiderate drivers, some of whom appear never to have heard of turn signals. Seriously considering selling our family’s 3 petrol cars and replacing them with a small EV (byd racco, if it ever comes to Singapore) only for grocery runs, especially if Waymo becomes a reality here. I’m not a fan of the inconsistent experience offered by Singapore’s private-hire operators, such as Grab, where poorly maintained vehicles and questionable driving standards are not uncommon. I also hope Waymo eventually uses the China made Zeekr Ojai in Singapore rather than the Jaguar I-Pace.
- ozgrakkurt 16d agoIsn't public transport good enough?
- jnaina 16d agoUnfortunately the nearest MRT station is at least a 30 mins walk from where we live.
- eru 16d agoI guess that's a choice you made when you selected that place?
- ValentineC 16d agoThat sounds mildly disingenuous. Surely there are buses nearby that connect to the MRT station?
- hdgvhicv 16d agoSo bus, metro, metro, bus, work. Hour, maybe 90 minutes, compared to 20 in a car.
- delta_p_delta_x 16d agoIn places like Serangoon North (which is highly residential, I might add), or some atas area like the green bits of River Valley etc, which are genuinely 2+ km from any MRT station, even the buses can take forever as they get stuck in traffic.
- aurareturn 16d agoBeen seeing Waymo test cars in Tokyo.
- petterroea 16d agoWaymo are working towards Tokyo as well. I'm worried. Living in here, I've noticed that the taxi industry acts as an unintentional social support system. Many taxi drivers are in-between jobs or stages in life, or simply didn't fit in to the corporate life. It doesn't pay well, but it's a decent job all things considered. I worry the death of the taxi industry means even less avenues for these people to escape to. Of course the argument here is "well Japan should fix the corporate situation" but the current prime minister seems to be hellbent on the opposite. I think this will suck for a lot of people.
- ginko 16d agoI have to admit I haven't taken a taxi in Tokyo but my impression was that it was a fairly high-end service akin to London black cabs and relatively pricey.
- yreg 16d agoDoesn't Tokyo have very low unemployment? According to Wikipedia: Japan 2.5%, Singapore 3.2%, USA 4.1%, EU 5.2%. I expect Tokyo is probably even lower than the national average. Visiting just as a tourist it seems like Japan is quite good at creating, I don't want to say bullshit jobs, but perhaps not-that-necessary jobs? Jobs which mainly serve to give something to do to (usually) elderly. My understanding was that the idea is to make them feel to be a contributing part of the society(?) I mean all the people controlling the pedestrians or acting like "human signs" and such. Am I getting it wrong?
- motionlessveloc 16d agoDue to its aging population and lack of mass immigration, Japan has a desperate labor shortage in many fields. I don't think taxi driving in Tokyo is one of them (because, as noted, the qualifications needed are pretty minimal), although eg bus drivers are in extremely short supply.
- w00kie 16d agoDon't make the mistake to think these jobs are just there to keep bored retirees active. The basic old age pension (kokumin nenkin - for sole-proprietors and people who have worked in non-permanent positions or small companies) is significantly below the poverty line at 70,600¥ per month -- that's $450 and that's if you've worked for 40 years without any gaps. The vast majority of old people working these jobs, e.g. construction site security, do so because they would likely starve without it.
- scubadude 16d agoOn the plus side, super low network latency to the people in the Philippines actually driving these driverless vehicles, it's a win!
- Zigurd 15d agoWaymo is open about their remote monitoring and support. Waymo aren't remotely driven. A remote monitor might be called upon to pick from a set of choices if the vehicle can't make the decision by itself. If that can't clear the problem a human is dispatched to the location and drives the vehicle in person, or it gets towed. I suspect some Chinese robotaxis are remotely driven in some situations. I also suspect that Tesla Robo taxis have just moved the kill switch from the passenger seat to the chase car to a remote driver. If they could do without intensive remote monitoring, FSD would really be F. it isn't.
- Markoff 16d agoI don't get what's the point of Waymo in cities like Singapore or Tokyo with perfect public transport, one can understand appeal in US, but in Europe or Eastern Asia? Heck even here in Prague with less than perfect public transport I don't get people using taxi/uber, only reasonable scenarios to me are multiple people with lots of baggage on the way from airport or people going in night from pub/event after most of the public transport stopped operating (though buses/trams run 24/7, just less frequent in night). In ~10 years living in Prague I used taxi I think only twice - with wife delivering baby on the way to hospital and with wife returning with newborn back home from hospital.
- w00kie 16d agoI don't think you're factoring in the weather: Tokyo is incredibly hot and humid in Summer (even more than Singapore, but there it's like that all year round), has a long rainy season in late-spring/early-summer and regular typhoons in late-summer/early-fall. Basically, for more than half of the year you're severely pondering the convenience of taking a cab over walking in the heat/rain. Even then, the vast majority of people taking taxis regularly are business people going to and from business meetings and expensing it away, as evidenced by the heavily targeted ads for BtoB SaaS playing on the screens in the back of Tokyo taxis.
- Markoff 16d agopublic transport has usually roof, same as car, so not exactly sure what has weather to do with anything and yes, sure there are business people, they can enjoy getting stuck in traffic
- tzs 15d agoSingapore currently has around 13000 taxis and Tokyo has around 50000 so clearly a lot of people in those cities do not consider the non-car based public transportation to be perfect. Those are actual taxis. If we include services similar to Uber that adds another 60000 to Singapore.
- nelaggy 16d agofor more context, singapore been increasingly shifting away from car ownership [0] which makes a lot of sense given its population density, and the government has also been aggressively exploring AVs, so this was inevitable i just hope waymo cars will be more gracious than local drivers [0] https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/transport/acting-transport-minister-jeffrey-siow-on-coe-system-private-hire-cars-and-other-transport-issues https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/transport/acting-tran...
- delta_p_delta_x 16d agoSingapore says it likes to be car-lite, and makes cars correspondingly expensive, but the government doesn't seem to truly walk the talk. Singapore uses about 11%[1] of its extremely limited land area for land transport (primarily, roads, since all railways are urban passenger rapid transit and not freight). I believe this is too much. 10-13 lane stroads are not uncommon, especially at junctions[2]. Singapore needs more light rail, trams, and permanent bus lanes with bus priority signals, as well as considerably more traffic calming measures in residential neighbourhoods. Don't get me wrong, its mass rapid transit story is superb, first in class, but mixed-mode transport and last-kilometre connections need to be better. Also, and related to the post: the Tamil in the website is wrong. Even in the colloquial register I haven't really heard anyone say 'வந்துட்டு'; it ideally ought to be the formal 'வந்துள்ளது'. Better still, a simpler and more accurate translation of 'Waymo in Singapore' is 'சிங்கப்பூரில் Waymo'. [1]: https://tablebuilder.singstat.gov.sg/table/TS/M891211 https://tablebuilder.singstat.gov.sg/table/TS/M891211 [2]: https://maps.app.goo.gl/gg7HR7H3qBJmBz4U6 https://maps.app.goo.gl/gg7HR7H3qBJmBz4U6
- ballon_monkey 16d agoThey are car lite. You need to purchase a CoE before you buy a car, those last 10 years, and are auctioned off. Current prices are ~133k sgd for a CoE not including the car which can often be 100k+
- delta_p_delta_x 16d agoI think you might not have read the rest of what I wrote. Just because cars are super expensive doesn't mean people don't buy them or don't use them. People regularly take out 7-year loans to finance the car + COE + ARF + VES. My point is that the land use in Singapore truly shows where LTA's priorities are. Look at Tengah or Bidadari, both brand-new neighbourhoods. Huge, wide 6+-lane dual-carriageways with hardly any traffic on them. My family has a car in Singapore that has about 70000 km on the odometer after about 6 years of driving, which is quite a lot for purely urban driving. The fact is I can get to most of destinations in about half or a third the time it takes on public transport. It is primarily why I drive if I have to get there quicker.
- MiroslavPokorny 16d agoDoesnt SG have a very comprehensive metro ?
- alienchow 16d agoConnectivity density also means longer commute time. 15km can take 1.5h unless you have a train station right at your doorstep.
- MiroslavPokorny 15d agoCars even taxis dont scale. It sounds like you are confirming my point that SG is a failed society because people spend their precious time in traffic, cars, trains.