The tech is similar, although the Singapore companies are using what appear to be custom modified self-driving versions of European and Japanese small cars – i.e cars that have already been tried and tested as safe with human drivers.
The way the system is being developed appears to be different with a bit more thought being put into safety and constructive engagement with the transport regulators.
The use of these cars is currently confined to an industrial estate and an area spanning only a few square km where there are new well maintained roads and a lot of tech companies (but still providing a useful service to the passengers) – if you look at the picture of the car in the first article from the Guardian its index plate is a unique design (different from any others in current use – with the prefix “RD” immediately identifying it to ANPR systems as a research vehicle).
Traffic laws in SG are (like many other things there) “firm but fair” – if I rode my (EU approved standard) e-bike there I’d have to slow down (and/or perhaps revert some of the fine tuning of the controller settings) as they although they have 700km of decent bike paths (no mean feat for a tiny, crowded country) the max speed is 25 km/h..
They also strongly discourage the private ownership of motor cars – it is also very expensive to run them due to the countries small size; and that they have to be imported from Malaysia, Europe or Japan anyway.
This is the traffic authority website; it is impressively clear and easy to follow by the standards of public sector websites worldwide!
https://www.lta.gov.sg/content/ltaweb/en.html
