SINGAPORE (Mar 21): ST Engineering has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with BYD to include the Chinese automobile manufacturer’s electric buses in its Land Systems arm’s portfolio of autonomous bus platforms.

This comes as part of ST Engineering’s plans to form a consortium, in response to the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB)’s call for collaboration (CFC) for a pilot deployment of autonomous buses in Punggol, Tengah and the Jurong Innovation District. 

In its announcement on Wednesday, the group says it intends to integrate its autonomous vehicle (AV) kit onto BYD’s buses.

Both ST Engineering and BYD intend to look at marketing this joint platform internationally, it adds.

“This partnership is the beginning of our quest for the CFC, and we are excited that a leading OEM of electric vehicles such as BYD has agreed to be part of our consortium,” says Lee Shiang Long, president of Land Systems, ST Engineering.

“We continue to explore partnerships with like-minded companies and incorporate their capabilities into a proposal that offers a sustainable and scalable transportation solution for Singapore,” he adds.

ST Engineering and BYD have previously worked together on developing the former’s STROBO range of adaptable and scalable autonomous material handling equipment for the warehouse, airport, seaport and manufacturing industries.

Shares in the group closed 3 cents lower at $3.76 on Wednesday.