SINGAPORE—
Pang Kin Keong is dreaming of a paradise city, where the grass is green and the people are -- well, sitting in driverless cars.
Pang is also Permanent Secretary at Singapore’s Transport Ministry, so this is more than a dream. The government wants a city with fewer surface streets, making room for more parks, and more commuters using self-driving cars. Singapore would build roads underground and use the pods to shuttle people from the subway to their final destination.
“You must dream, you must dream,” Pang said in an interview at his office. “I want to live in a place much like the holidays and resorts that I go to once or twice every year, where the living environment is dominated by greenery. It’s safe, there are no cars zooming past me, I can go anywhere I want.”
From Silicon Valley to South Australia, companies are tinkering with driverless cars. But what sets Singapore apart is that the government now funds this research and plans to use the cars for public transit.
A few subway stops from the transport ministry, engineers have retrofitted a Toyota Alphard Hybrid to drive, sans human. On a recent, cloudless morning, the minivan navigated a public, but unclogged road, its steering wheel spinning left and right without the touch of a human hand. Outside, a toy robot rolled in front of the vehicle, testing whether it could dodge an intrusion. The robot was unharmed.
If Singapore eventually brings driverless cars online, the rest of the world could ride on its technological coattails. The island nation is well-placed for the task; it has the money and brainpower to conduct trials, as well as a powerful central government known for getting results.