Singapore: Grab starts offering autonomous shuttle service to the public
The homegrown superapp is offering the new service, officially called ‘Ai.R (Autonomously Intelligent Ride)’, in the Punggol district. It uses WeRide’s GXR, a robotaxi based on Farizon’s SuperVan platform, for these autonomous rides.Initially, Grab operates the Ai.R fleet on weekdays from 9:30 AM to 5:30 PM across two loop routes. The first route starts at Matilda Court and covers three stops in 45 minutes. The second route starts at Punggol Coast Mall and covers four stops in 50 minutes. The company will also offer a “Mini Route” from Punggol Coast Mall, covering two stops in 20 minutes.Grab is providing the autonomous rides to the public free of charge until the middle of the year, to gather feedback and understand usage patterns. It will use the data to optimise the service and set the pricing. In the initial phase of commercialisation, it will offer the service at a discounted fare.The company has set up a dedicated website for the Ai.R service, where interested users can reserve a slot for their ride on their preferred route and time. Initially, it is operating the Ai.R fleet with safety operators onboard, with 14 driver partners trained and certified so far, and another batch undergoing training and assessments.The Ai.R fleet has served more than 1,000 riders since January and clocked over 30,000 kilometres to date. The GXR vehicles are already serving as taxis in China, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia. Last month, WeRide signed an agreement with Farizon to deliver 2,000 GXRs by the end of the year and said it expects its global robotaxi fleet to grow to over 2,600 units with the addition.grab.com, weride.ai
