Grab Pilots On-Demand Autonomous Rides in Punggol

Under the pilot, riders can select existing stops served by the current shuttle network, and the autonomous vehicle will take a direct route between those points. Grab currently operates Punggol shuttle Routes 1 and 3, while ComfortDelGro operates Route 2, AsiaOne reported. The existing services will remain free while the on-demand trial is introduced, according to The Business Times.

Grab president and chief operating officer Alex Hungate said the next phase brings "increased flexibility with on-demand, direct routing" in response to community feedback. He also described the service as part of Grab's "hybrid mobility strategy, where AVs complement our core driver community to expand transport options for the public," according to The Business Times.

Grab stated that the service is intended to connect residential areas with amenities including clinics, markets, schools, and Punggol Coast MRT station. The Business Times reported that additional Punggol pick-up and drop-off points are to be added progressively this year in consultation with LTA and local community stakeholders.

LTA linked the shift from fixed routing to direct bookings to post-ride survey feedback. Among roughly 270 Punggol residents surveyed, almost 60% preferred choosing their boarding and alighting locations, while around 40% preferred more direct routes, CNA reported.

LTA reported that more than 11,500 unique riders had used Punggol's autonomous shuttle services as of July 12. AsiaOne separately reported that 99% of around 900 post-ride survey respondents said they felt safe and would recommend the service. The differing ridership figures reflect different reported scopes: Grab's own shuttle service had served more than 9,000 riders since the start of 2026 and accumulated about 90,000 km of local-road autonomous mileage, according to AsiaOne, while LTA's 11,500 figure covers the broader autonomous shuttle service.

Grab's Punggol autonomous mobility work began in 2025 with Guangzhou-based autonomous vehicle company WeRide, The Business Times reported. The company introduced Community Rides for local leaders and residents in January 2026, followed by wider public operations in April, according to the publication.

AsiaOne reported that Grab has established an autonomous vehicle fleet depot in Punggol and that the company intends to expand its fleet this year. Hungate told The Business Times that Grab aims to deploy "thousands of AVs together with fleet partners across South-east Asia by 2030."

For autonomous-mobility practitioners, the Punggol pilot is a notable operational transition: it retains a controlled set of known stops while replacing a predetermined route with on-demand routing. Comparable geofenced AV deployments typically use this kind of bounded service area to test dispatching, rider matching, route selection, fleet utilization, and operational support before expanding service coverage.