Waymo in Singapore

rramanan about 4 hours ago 74 commentsRead Article on waymo.com

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petterroea•about 1 hour ago

Waymo are working towards Tokyo as well. I'm worried. Living in here, I've noticed that the taxi industry acts as an unintentional social support system. Many taxi drivers are in-between jobs or stages in life, or simply didn't fit in to the corporate life. It doesn't pay well, but it's a decent job all things considered.

I worry the death of the taxi industry means even less avenues for these people to escape to.

Of course the argument here is "well Japan should fix the corporate situation" but the current prime minister seems to be hellbent on the opposite. I think this will suck for a lot of people.

mg•12 minutes ago

As AI becomes more and more capable and integrated into our lives, we will see this across many industries.

In theory, as things get cheaper to produce, business profits should rise and governments should be able to raise more taxes. So the government then has more means to provide goods and services for free to people who need them.

fooker•1 minute ago

> business profits should rise

It's the snake eating it's tail. For business profits to rise, people need to to have disposable income. If you replace enough people with AI, the average disposable income comes down to a point that businesses can't be profitable.

We are already seeing a localized version of this with restaurants in large cities.

yreg•20 minutes ago

Doesn't Tokyo have very low unemployment? According to Wikipedia: Japan 2.5%, Singapore 3.2%, USA 4.1%, EU 5.2%.

I expect Tokyo is probably even lower than the national average. Visiting just as a tourist it seems like Japan is quite good at creating, I don't want to say bullshit jobs, but perhaps not-that-necessary jobs? Jobs which mainly serve to give something to do to (usually) elderly. My understanding was that the idea is to make them feel to be a contributing part of the society(?)

I mean all the people controlling the pedestrians or acting like "human signs" and such.

Am I getting it wrong?

w00kie•less than a minute ago

Don't make the mistake to think these jobs are just there to keep bored retirees active. The basic old age pension (kokumin nenkin - for sole-proprietors and people who have worked in non-permanent positions or small companies) is significantly below the poverty line at 70,600¥ per month -- that's $450 and that's if you've worked for 40 years without any gaps.

The vast majority of old people working these jobs, e.g. construction site security, do so because they would likely starve without it.

motionlessveloc•17 minutes ago

Due to its aging population and lack of mass immigration, Japan has a desperate labor shortage in many fields.

I don't think taxi driving in Tokyo is one of them (because, as noted, the qualifications needed are pretty minimal), although eg bus drivers are in extremely short supply.

shell0x•about 3 hours ago

A basic commuter car costs over S180,000( US135,000) due to a compulsory 10-year quota license (COE/certificate of entitlement) that alone costs S$100,000+, plus registration taxes scaling up to 320% of the car's base value. Total running costs (tolls, parking, road tax) easily add S1,000–S2,000+ per month.

Singapore is so small though and cabs are cheap and I never needed a car. I can see why Waymo will be very attractive.

vachina•about 3 hours ago

If you never needed a car in Singapore then why is the COE so expensive? COE price is determined from a bidding process.

fhe•about 2 hours ago

despite the convenience of a well-run public transport system and uber-like services, the ease and freedom of owning your own transport is still hard to beat, and evidently worth the ~75k dollar COE. it removes the walk from bus/subway stations under the tropical/sun, humidity; and the wait (typically 5-10min) of waiting for your uber/taxi driver to showup and enduring the uber car smell (often heavily scented for some reason and triggers my allergic reaction) and someone else's music. and once you have children a car is almost a must.

shell0x•about 3 hours ago

I said I never needed a car there :) I can get anywhere by cab in like < 30 mins so I never saw the need to have one. However there are plenty of ultra rich people living there and also many driving luxury cars. It's also a status symbol there(Credit card/Condo/Car).

shalmanese•about 2 hours ago

A lot of people get a car when they have kids as taking grab with a car seat can be unwieldy. Also, COE wasn’t always $100K, many people are still on legacy COE when it was $30-$50K

jimmydef•about 2 hours ago

The utility of a car in singapore is very different from other places. Yes, a car will get you faster from point A to point B in singapore when compared to public transport. But you can get a private hire car or a taxi which is just as fast and is probably much more convenient.

For many people in Singapore, a car's real utility is to signal status. More often than not, this status gets you real-life benefits. Such as increased dating success.

fhe•about 2 hours ago

interestingly enough though, car ownership, and even having a driver's license is increasingly less common among the young.

itemize123•about 2 hours ago

it's easy to want one

rottencupcakes•about 3 hours ago

Singapore has the potential to be the first country to eliminate the private ownership of vehicles.

tristanj•about 3 hours ago

Singapore will not be the first. Albania banned private vehicle ownership for over 40 years until 1991.

evbogue•about 2 hours ago

Singapore would do better banning cars altogether.

jnaina•about 1 hour ago

Cars are extremely expensive in Singapore, and driving here is becoming increasingly frustrating, what with constant road congestions, seemingly endless roadworks, and inconsiderate drivers, some of whom appear never to have heard of turn signals.

Seriously considering selling our family’s 3 petrol cars and replacing them with a small EV (byd racco, if it ever comes to Singapore) only for grocery runs, especially if Waymo becomes a reality here. I’m not a fan of the inconsistent experience offered by Singapore’s private-hire operators, such as Grab, where poorly maintained vehicles and questionable driving standards are not uncommon.

I also hope Waymo eventually uses the China made Zeekr Ojai in Singapore rather than the Jaguar I-Pace.

eru•43 minutes ago

Singapore is actually pretty good about congestion, what with CoE and congestion charges.

ozgrakkurt•about 1 hour ago

Isn't public transport good enough?

jnaina•about 1 hour ago

Unfortunately the nearest MRT station is at least a 30 mins walk from where we live.

eru•43 minutes ago

I guess that's a choice you made when you selected that place?

orsenthil•about 3 hours ago

Singapore is a controlled economy, and has a large workforce for Taxi Drivers and part-time drivers through Grab. I am not sure how the entrenchment of robotaxis like Waymo (and future tesla) is going to play with the general population. My guess, they will co-exist as the government wont jeopardize the living of the taxi-driver-complaining uncles.

Also, I notice a lot new SF based AI companies have started establishing their offices in Singapore too. Sierra, and Fireworks coming to my mind. As government plays a huge part in Singapore, I guess, government noticing these as necessary investments for the future of Singapore.

yellow_lead•about 3 hours ago

> Singapore is a controlled economy

Singapore is a mixed economy [1].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Singapore

aurareturn•about 1 hour ago

Been seeing Waymo test cars in Tokyo.

cranky908canuck•about 4 hours ago

Must be early in the process, most if not all the photos and graphics where the driving side is visible show North American side driving.

goatsi•about 3 hours ago

They are apparently up to two years out from carrying passengers

"Waymo said it will introduce its fully autonomous, all-electric ride-hailing service in Singapore via the Waymo app by 2028.

An initial fleet of all-electric Jaguar I-PACE vehicles is expected to arrive in the coming months, it said.

Mapping and validation activities are scheduled for 2027, with trained autonomous specialists conducting initial manual driving to adapt the Waymo Driver to local road geometry, monsoon weather patterns, and more. "

https://mothership.sg/2026/09/waymo-self-driving-cars-singap...

vineyardmike•about 3 hours ago

What do you mean? There’s very few images of a car driving, but the roads seem to be correct. Some of the images are definitely generic marketing copy and not Singapore specific, but it seems fairly obvious which ones.

Unless you mean the steering wheel is on the wrong side, but that seems like it wouldn’t matter for an autonomous vehicle.

vachina•about 3 hours ago

This thing is DOA if it only does predetermined route, which I think is what's going to happen.

danpalmer•about 3 hours ago

Why do you think that? Waymo hasn't done that anywhere else.