LTA partners tech firms to realise its vision
Ong Boon Kiat
WHILE waiting for their rides, bus commuters in Singapore are fed information via their mobile phones telling them exactly where buses are on the road, and when they will arrive. Meanwhile, live video are streaming from buses into mobile phones, enabling commuters to keep tabs on the number of available seats in arriving buses.
Futuristic scenarios such as these were yesterday depicted by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) to showcase its new research initiative, dubbed Singapore Urban Transport Solution. As a first step of this initiative, LTA has joined hands with six partners in a three-year tie-up. Its aim - 'to promote Singapore as a centre of research for world class urban transport solutions'.
The six research collaborators - the Economic Development Board (EDB), Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), Cisco, IBM Singapore, Singapore Technologies Electronics (ST Electronics) and 3M Technologies - inked a memorandum of collaboration with LTA yesterday.
'The Singapore Urban Transport Solution is a vision to collectively generate new ideas and integrate multi-disciplinary capabilities from private and public sectors to bring land transport development to the next lap,' said LTA chief executive Yam Ah Mee at the signing ceremony.
'The years ahead are going to be among the most exciting LTA has ever witnessed,' he said, noting that $54 billion worth of projects to improve Singapore's land transport network are expected to be completed in the next 10 to 15 years.
LTA's new research initiative, part of its Land Transport Masterplan, will tap a $50 million fund set up in March by LTA to promote innovation. Funding will also come from EDB and IDA.
Rosina Howe-Teo, LTA's chief innovation officer, said LTA will open its infrastructure for partners to use as a test-bed. 'This is not a procurement exercise; the technologies (that will be studied) are not yet ready to be implemented in a big way,' she explained, adding that more vendors will be roped in by LTA over time to form more research tie-ups.
LTA said its initiative will kick off with four research clusters, namely, traffic optimisation, transport telematics, integrated user experience, and environment and energy. These areas were chosen because they form the backbone for urban transport and sustainable development.
For the just-launched partnership, the two statutory boards - EDB and IDA - will play the role of facilitator, while the four tech firms will bring their respective domain expertise to the table.
Cisco will provide its connectivity know-how and experience in working with municipal governments around the world on city-wide transportation projects. IBM Singapore will be tapping its research scientists in topics like
advanced analytics, transport data optimisation, and information management and integration.
ST Electronics will work with LTA in the area of interactive road transportation infrastructure. This will involve the study of commuter applications and ad-hoc wireless mesh technologies. 3M will bring its expertise in noise control, light management and display materials.
