In a city long regarded as a laboratory for orderly futures, Waymo has announced it will bring its fully driverless ride-hailing service to Singapore by 2028 — marking the company's first venture into Southeast Asia. The partnership with Singapore's transport authorities reflects a shared conviction that autonomous vehicles need not displace existing systems, but can extend their reach into the hours and places human drivers leave uncovered. It is a quiet but consequential step in the longer arc of humanity's negotiation with machines over the act of moving through the world.
Waymo to launch driverless ride-hailing in Singapore by 2028
Autonomous vehicles fill gaps where human drivers don't want to go
Mark
So Waymo is coming to Singapore in 2028. But they're not starting with full autonomy right away—there's this readiness phase first. What's actually happening during that year?
Mimi
They're having trained drivers manually operate the vehicles while the Waymo Driver system learns Singapore's specific conditions. Road layouts, monsoon weather, how traffic actually moves here. It's not like they can just copy what works in Arizona.
Luke
Right, but we should be clear: the readiness phase is next year, 2027. The full public service launch is 2028, pending regulatory approval. That approval isn't guaranteed yet.
Mark
Got it. And they're starting in Labrador and Harbourfront. Why those areas specifically?
Mimi
The minister didn't say explicitly, but those are western Singapore areas. The broader strategy seems to be testing in denser, more established neighborhoods first, then expanding to Housing Board towns like Tampines North and Tengah that have fewer transport options.
Luke
Which makes sense—you want to prove the system works somewhere with good infrastructure before you take it to areas that are underserved. Though we don't know yet how well it will actually perform in monsoon conditions or Singapore's specific traffic patterns.
Mark
What about the jobs angle? The minister said this would create employment.
Mimi
Fleet management, remote operation, maintenance, data analysis, safety oversight. And crucially, some of these roles are being positioned for existing taxi and private-hire drivers. The government is subsidizing up to 90 percent of training salaries.
Luke
That's significant, but it's worth noting that Singapore has over 70,000 taxi and private-hire drivers right now. Even if the autonomous fleet grows to several hundred over two years, that's not going to absorb many of those workers. It's a start, but the scale mismatch is real.
Mark
So this isn't replacing the human driver workforce—it's supplementing the system?
Mimi
That's how the minister framed it. Autonomous vehicles fill gaps where human drivers don't want to go and operate during hours when public transit isn't running. They're not meant to be the primary transport layer.
Luke
And that's important context. Trains and buses are still the most efficient and affordable options. Waymo is being positioned as a niche service, not a transformation of Singapore's entire transport ecosystem.
Le Pouls
- Waymo will enter a 'readiness phase' in 2028, with specialists manually operating vehicles while its AI system learns Singapore's monsoon conditions and road geometry before handing over full control.
- The announcement arrives as Singapore's autonomous vehicle landscape is already stirring — Grab and WeRide launched community shuttle rides in Punggol just months ago, and Grab is now scaling from 10 to 50 vehicles.
- Regulators and operators are threading a careful needle: autonomous fleets are being positioned to serve underserved Housing Board towns and late-night gaps, not to compete with trains and buses that remain the backbone of public transit.
- Singapore's total autonomous fleet could reach several hundred within two years — still a sliver against 70,000 human taxi and private-hire drivers, but enough to signal a structural shift in how the city moves.
- To soften the disruption, the government is subsidizing up to 90 percent of training salaries, opening new roles in remote operation, fleet management, and safety oversight to drivers already working in the transport sector.
In a city long regarded as a laboratory for orderly futures, Waymo has announced it will bring its fully driverless ride-hailing service to Singapore by 2028 — marking the company's first venture into Southeast Asia. The partnership with Singapore's transport authorities reflects a shared conviction that autonomous vehicles need not displace existing systems, but can extend their reach into the hours and places human drivers leave uncovered. It is a quiet but consequential step in the longer arc of humanity's negotiation with machines over the act of moving through the world.
Waymo, the autonomous driving arm of Alphabet, announced Friday that it will launch a fully driverless ride-hailing service in Singapore by 2028 — its first expansion into Southeast Asia. The service, developed in partnership with Singapore's Ministry of Transport and Land Transport Authority, will use all-electric Jaguar I-PACE vehicles bookable through an app.
Before public rides begin, Waymo will spend time in what it calls a readiness phase, during which trained specialists manually operate the vehicles while the company's autonomous system — the Waymo Driver — learns Singapore's road geometry and adjusts to monsoon weather. The full transition to driverless public rides is targeted for 2028, pending regulatory approval. Testing will begin in the Labrador and Harbourfront area of western Singapore, with potential expansion to Housing Board towns like Tampines North and Tengah that currently have fewer transport options.
Waymo's system uses lidar, radar, and cameras to build a 360-degree picture of its surroundings. The company reports more than 20 million fully autonomous rides globally and a 94 percent reduction in injury-causing crashes compared to human drivers in its U.S. markets. Transport Minister Jeffrey Siow was careful to frame autonomous vehicles as a complement to Singapore's trains and buses — not a rival — filling gaps in coverage and operating during late hours when public transit has stopped.
Singapore is not starting from zero. Grab and WeRide received approval for community shuttle rides in Punggol earlier this year, and Grab announced it will grow its autonomous fleet from 10 to 50 vehicles within six months. With Waymo's entry, the city-state's total autonomous fleet is expected to reach several hundred within two years — still a small fraction of the more than 70,000 taxi and private-hire drivers currently on the road.
The transition is being managed with an eye toward the existing workforce. New roles in fleet management, remote operation, maintenance, and safety oversight are being opened to current drivers, and the government will subsidize up to 90 percent of salaries during retraining. Siow described the moment as a new phase in Singapore's journey toward driverless transport — one that expands capacity while creating pathways rather than dead ends for the people who have long kept the city moving.
Waymo, the autonomous driving company owned by Alphabet, will launch a fully driverless ride-hailing service in Singapore by 2028—its first entry into Southeast Asia. The announcement came Friday when the company revealed it had partnered with Singapore's Ministry of Transport and Land Transport Authority to deploy an all-electric commercial service that riders can book through an app. The initial fleet will consist of Jaguar I-PACE vehicles, which are expected to arrive in the coming months as Waymo establishes local operations.
Before public rides begin, the company will enter what it calls a readiness phase next year, during which trained specialists will manually operate the vehicles while Waymo's autonomous system—called the Waymo Driver—adapts to Singapore's specific conditions. This includes learning local road geometry and adjusting to monsoon weather patterns. The full transition to public autonomous rides, subject to regulatory approval, is targeted for 2028.
Waymo's technology relies on lidar, radar, and cameras to create a 360-degree view of the road environment, allowing vehicles to detect and anticipate the movements of pedestrians, cyclists, and other road users. The company has logged more than 20 million fully autonomous rides and driven over 300 million autonomous kilometers globally, reporting a 94 percent reduction in injury-causing crashes compared with human drivers in the U.S. cities where it currently operates. Tekedra Mawakana, Waymo's co-CEO, framed Singapore's transportation ecosystem as aligned with the company's values, noting the city-state's emphasis on reliability, sustainability, and human-centered progress.
Transport Minister Jeffrey Siow positioned autonomous vehicles as a complement to Singapore's existing public transit infrastructure rather than a replacement. Trains and buses will remain the most efficient, affordable, and environmentally sound options, he said, but driverless vehicles can fill specific gaps—serving areas where human drivers are reluctant to operate and running during late hours when buses and trains have stopped. Waymo will begin testing and preparing for deployment in western Singapore, starting with the Labrador and Harbourfront area, with potential expansion to Housing Board towns like Tampines North and Tengah that currently have fewer transport options.
Singapore already has a small autonomous vehicle presence. The Land Transport Authority approved Grab and WeRide for community shuttle rides in Punggol in January, with public rides beginning in April. Grab announced Monday that it will expand its autonomous fleet from 10 to 50 vehicles over the next six months and is preparing to launch an on-demand service across selected Punggol locations. With Waymo's entry, Singapore's total autonomous vehicle fleet is expected to grow to several hundred within two years—still a small fraction of the more than 70,000 taxi and private-hire drivers currently operating in the city-state.
The expansion is expected to create new employment categories in fleet management, remote vehicle operation, maintenance of sophisticated systems, data analysis, and safety oversight. Siow noted that some of these roles will be available to existing taxi and private-hire drivers. Operators have already launched training programs for drivers interested in transitioning to these positions, and the government will subsidize up to 90 percent of salaries during the training period. The shift represents what Siow called a new phase in Singapore's journey toward driverless transportation—one that expands capacity and service coverage while creating pathways for workers in the existing transport industry.
Citations marquantes
Singapore has built one of the safest, most efficient and most forward-thinking transportation ecosystems in the world. Their focus on reliability, sustainability, and human-centric progress directly mirrors how we have built Waymo's technology and service.— Tekedra Mawakana, Waymo co-CEO
Autonomous vehicles will add to the capacity of taxis and private-hire fleets and fill some gaps—for example, serving areas where human drivers are reluctant to go, and operating after hours when public transport has stopped running.— Jeffrey Siow, Singapore Transport Minister
Envie de l'histoire complète ?
Lire l'original sur CNA ↗
Business