Volvo Buses and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore signed an agreement on a research and development project for autonomous electric buses.

The programme is part of the Land Transport Authority of Singapore’s efforts to transition to more sustainable public transportation, and it marks Volvo Group’s first autonomous application in public transportation.

“We are seeing fast-growing interest in both autonomous and electric vehicles in cities all over the world. Together with NTU, one of the world’s leading universities of technology, and Singapore and its Land Transport Authority, we now have the possibility of testing various solutions under realistic conditions. The technology developed in Singapore can contribute to future autonomous applications by Volvo Buses,” said Håkan Agnevall, president, Volvo Buses.

The basis of the programme consists of two all-electric Volvo 7900 Electric buses. One of the buses will be used at Singapore’s new test facility for autonomous vehicles and the second will be used for tests in the bus depot. The buses will arrive in Singapore in the beginning of 2019.