ST Engineering is collaborating with Israeli automotive cyber-security start-up SafeRide Technologies to protect the autonomous shuttles on Sentosa from cyber attacks.

These driverless shuttles will operate from next year.

The partnership will integrate ST Engineering's in-house cyber-security capabilities with SafeRide's software suite called vSentry, to diagnose and eliminate potential cyber vulnerabilities from connected and autonomous vehicles.

SafeRide co-founder and chief executive Yossi Vardi said: "vSentry is a holistic solution which provides multi-layered security for the autonomous vehicles, the connected ECUs (connected computers of the vehicle), and the fleet."

vSentry combines two mechanisms - a conventional zero-false positive mechanism and a dynamic mechanism called vXRay, which uses machine-learning and deep-learning technologies to protect the vehicles against threats.

Mr Vardi said: "The robust security and value-added services that SafeRide's solution enables are key for supporting the AV (autonomous vehicle) projects, as well as other leading industry innovations that ST Engineering drives."

He foresees a long-term partnership with ST Engineering as it develops an array of vehicle platforms for many industry segments, all of which require security attention.

"Cyber security is one of the core capabilities that we are delivering in our products and solutions," said Dr Lee Shiang Long, president of ST Engineering's Land Systems arm.

"With the rapid advances in vehicle technology, the need to safeguard the integrity and security of the systems becomes more urgent."

Early this month, ST Engineering started a three-month on-road testing of its autonomous mobility-on-demand vehicle on Sentosa.