Future mobility competition for tertiary students

SINGAPORE - The Government is tapping tertiary institutions for mobility ideas that could be implemented in the future.

Senior Minister of State for Transport Ng Chee Meng on Wednesday launched the Land Transport Authority Engineering Challenge for Sustainable Future Mobility - a competition for tertiary students and engineering professionals "to apply their creative and engineering skills to create attractive and exciting mobility solutions for Singapore".

Mr Ng announced this at the LTA Future Mobility Symposium, held at Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre.

Students can, for instance, find ways to make Singapore a "car-free" city, "or rethink our transport system if our street space were centred on pedestrians instead of car drivers".

Participants could also "imagine how on-demand, door-to-door mobility services provided by self-driving vehicles could transform our transport landscape".

Mr Ng added: "This competition is another effort by LTA to excite interest in land transport engineering in Singapore."

He said the LTA has also been "working hard" to build up research capabilities in land transport, to help us identify solutions to current and future problems".

The authority is setting up transport research centres with Nanyang Technological University, the National University of Singapore, and the Singapore Institute of Technology.

"LTA will also be tapping on private sector expertise to help develop new solutions to enhance the mobility experience," he added.

The authority has meanwhile set up a research advisory panel to provide advice on research directions and objectives.

Set up in August, the panel is headed by Professor Ho Teck Hua, deputy president (Research & Technology) of NUS. It comprises 12 international and local academics.

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