Arcadis co-hosted a networking event with Urban Land Institute Singapore (ULI) to uncover the future of Singapore’s smart mobility.
Building on the latest report from Arcadis, Citizens in Motion, ULI and Arcadis were joined by guest speaker Michael Shearer OBE, Managing Director Asia Pacific of McLaren Applied Technologies, to discuss the development and implications of Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAV) in the city state’s smart mobility future.
The emerging self-driving vehicles, or CAV revolution opens a new frontier of disruption in transportation and urban living. For cities around the world, exclusively CAV present a huge opportunity to radically transform urban mobility.
Opening the discussion at the event was Global Cities Director John Batten, who said: “When looking at a city’s mobility priorities, three I’s should be considered – Invest in the Core, Integration of Data to accomplish a mobility as a service platform, and Innovate around EV, digitalization and connected and autonomous vehicles. To achieve a car-light status, we need to encourage people to switch from riding in private cars to using public transport and car sharing. Less private cars mean land currently used as parking spaces and public roads can be released and re-purposed for other uses, or mode of transportation such as cycling or walking.”
Batten continues, “Data is at the heart of improving citizen experience and an enabler to deliver Mobility as a Service (MaaS) -- integration of a variety of different transport modes into a single data platform with a standardized payment and ticketing system. Data on how customers use mobility allows a city to improve its transport mix and enhance citizen experience.”
Finally, Innovation. We need to stay innovative and bring solutions that address citizens’ mobility needs and concerns. City should be innovating and testing new mobility solution as this is a fast-moving and critical area for cities to improve upon,” Batten added.
Building on the discussion from the event and the findings from Citizens in Motion, Singapore Country Head Tim Risbridger alluded to the current shift in public acceptance: “In Singapore we are moving towards a future where the public has an increasing acceptance of CAVs. While there are some concerns over safety and how to enable integration with other modes of transport, it’s clear that the government has a very well-thought out plan on how to make CAV work for Singapore.”
Citizens in Motion
The report by Arcadis looks at 14 global cities and offers a snapshot of activity across three key elements: citizen connection, governance platforms and enabling infrastructure. Each city can incorporate CAV as part of their mobility mix, giving them the potential to become more competitive and sustainable.
The report highlights how Singapore can accelerate and leverage sustainable, cost-effective technologies to provide safe and reliable green transportation to achieve its desired goal of a car-lite Singapore. Currently 12% of land is given over to roads and parking; this land could be ultimately repurposed to help with Singapore’s land issues.
Singapore: One of the world’s most active CAV testing environments.
In Singapore, the government’s Smart Nation blueprint stresses alternative modes of mobility, and it is one of the world’s most active CAV testing environments. Given Singapore’s tight land and manpower limitations that currently constrain the city-state’s transport system, CAV is broadly accepted by citizens who already adopt car sharing schemes.
Singapore is at the forefront of embracing CAV opportunities. Over the past few years, we have seen the government, universities, and private sectors collaborating seamlessly on developing solutions, infrastructures, and trials to facilitate CAV advancement, to ensure the new technology can deliver on Singapore’s car-light vision.