Jeffrey Siow addresses motion to strengthen Singapore as a global transport hub

The Ministry of Transport will invest S$800 million in transport research and innovation over the next five years, which is more than double the funding over the last five years. Acting Transport Minister Jeffrey Siow announced this in parliament on Tuesday (Jul 7). He said the money will go into backing ideas that “could completely transform how transport operates” - for example, a fully automated MRT depot or an AI-enabled air traffic management system. Mr Siow added that technology is only one ingredient in Singapore’s secret sauce and AI will be adopted with intention, clarity and “on our own terms”. He also spoke about autonomous vehicles (AVs), noting that “driver jobs are not going to vanish anytime soon”. Mr Siow said there are more than 70,000 taxi and private-hire drivers in Singapore today; in contrast, there are only about 20 AVs on the roads, mostly in Punggol. Read more: https://cna.asia/4gpY9ma Subscribe to our channel here: https://cna.asia/youtubesub Visit our website: https://cna.asia Download our app: https://cna.asia/app Get our editors' picks of stories via chat apps: Telegram: https://cna.asia/telegram WhatsApp: https://cna.asia/whatsapp Follow us on these platforms: https://www.facebook.com/channelnewsasia https://www.instagram.com/channelnewsasia https://www.tiktok.com/@channelnewsasia