[SINGAPORE] Transport operator ComfortDelGro (CDG) expects China and Singapore to be its prime markets for autonomous vehicles (AVs) in the near future.

At a media briefing on the company’s AV strategy on Friday (Jun 12), Michael Huang, CDG’s head of its Singapore point-to-point mobility business, called China “ground zero” for AVs, and described Singapore as one of the places in the Asia-Pacific most ready for adoption.

The UK and Australia, markets where CDG also has a significant presence, could follow later, he added.

In February, the company said it hoped to convert 10 per cent of its fleet into AVs by 2030. Holding its fleet size at 30,000, one can estimate the figure to be 3,000 vehicles.

China leads in robotaxis

“We think there is going to be a lot of demand for (robotaxis) in first-tier cities in China,” Huang said, naming Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen as densely populated cities with people receptive to new technology.

“We see that AVs are easily accepted by the public for day-to-day use (in Guangzhou)... and we think it is a very good use case for AVs. People use it to go to work, they use it to go for meals, and they use it to go back home.”

It is still small scale in Guangzhou, where CDG has had five robotaxis in commercial operation since March 2025.

“We think that commercialisation can be faster in China than in Singapore. In Singapore, we will start with our pilot, and then work closely with the regulators to see how AVs evolve over time,” he said.

China’s central and regional governments have been very supportive of AV technology and electric vehicles, and have provided incentives, flexible frameworks and sandboxes for operators to gain experience.

China thus has some of the world’s leading robotaxi players – including Baidu, Pony.ai and WeRide – which is crucial for widespread adoption and mass production.

“You need to be able to build AVs in a mass manner. There is no point building 10 or 20 (at a time); you need to be able to build thousands at a time, you need the whole cost of AVs to come down,” he said.

He noted that the cost of AVs has come down from between two and three million yuan (between S$380,000 and S$570,000) a few years ago to around 300,000 to 400,000 yuan now.

However, cost remains a significant barrier to mass adoption of robotaxis, so large-scale adoption is still some time away.

The cost is coming down faster now, but “it hasn’t quite reached the point where it is commercially viable in a mass case; it still needs to come down (more) for that to happen”.

One advantage CDG has in China is that it is not tied to any one city or region, unlike the local operators.

“That is how we managed to grow our business in China from one city to many,” Huang said.

The company’s 2025 annual report said 9,569 of its vehicles were in operation in 10 cities in China.

Singapore is ready for more

Outside China, but within the Asia-Pacific, Singapore is the most ready for robotaxis.

Huang said: “I’m sure there are some small regions within Asean that could be suitable for AVs, but not (in Singapore) at the moment. For us, we are focused on AVs at scale; where we can scale (is in) China, Singapore, then London, UK and Australia, maybe a bit later.”

He said that CDG’s competitive advantage, both in Singapore and abroad, lies in its experience in transport operations, including building infrastructure and talent, all developed from its decades of operating in various countries and regulatory environments.

Its transport ecosystem ranges from vehicles and support infrastructure to customer service and bookings. Company representatives cited this breadth of experience as a key factor behind the company being able to pull off a pilot AV project for Singapore in eight months.

CDG and Pony.ai have been testing five AVs in Punggol since receiving approval last December; invitational rides started in April.

The company is already reaping cross-market benefits: It sends its AV safety operators to China for training, as the road situations there are more complex than in Singapore.

CDG’s AVs are likely to become operationally ready sooner in time because training these vehicles to do the job is easier in Singapore, said Huang.

He declined to discuss specific commercial fares, saying it is too early.

While the company has partnered Pony.ai for Guangzhou and Singapore, Huang said CDG remains technology agnostic and open to systems by other players.

“We want to understand how the technology develops and what new cases can develop for us,” he said.