Israeli Port Town Ashdod to Get Driverless Buses

Singaporean aerospace and defense company ST Engineering (listed as Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd.) will test autonomous shuttle buses in the Israeli port city Ashdod, according to Chew Men Leong, chief marketing officer at ST Engineering. If proved successful, he said, driverless buses could be in operation in Ashdod as early as 2020. The pilot will launch next year. The Israeli Ministry of Transportation has already approved testing of autonomous vehicles in the country but has yet to approve autonomous shuttling of passengers.

In June, ST Engineering announced it has partnered with Tel Aviv-based automotive cybersecurity startup SafeRide Technologies Ltd. As part of the deal, SafeRide’s technology will be integrated into motors and hardware for driverless buses manufactured by ST Engineering.