New Bus Stop Features Smart City Technology

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Singapore was recently ranked the top performer in a global smart city ranking by Juniper Research. The country’s efforts in the area of mobility reflect “smart, connected traffic solutions” together with a very strong policy curtailing car ownership in an effort to reduce the number of vehicles on its roads. The country is a leader in allowing citizens to access digital services and city information, reports channelnewsasia.com.

Among the smart city applications is a new bus stop, the Airbitat Oasis Smart Bus Stop that was recently installed in Singapore. It is equipped with sensors and a ceiling camera. It collects data on commuters’ flow and waiting time, as well as detecting possible suspicious items. The bus stop also has a cooling and purification unit on its roof, which keeps the air inside fresher and cooler than the surrounding area with its automobile exhaust fumes and tropical heat.

The “smart bus stop” was developed by the state-backed Singapore Technologies Engineering. For the company, the bus stop is a testbed for its new technologies in the areas on which it focuses — transportation, security and energy. The company aims to further develop technologies and provide useful services for public spaces by targeting customers such as the government.

The Airbitat Oasis Smart Bus Stop was developed in ST Engineering’s open innovation laboratory, which also developed innovations such as a “smart wheelchair” system for Singapore’s Changi Airport, allowing a single operator to handle three wheelchairs simultaneously in order to address the manpower shortage. The system features an accurate trajectory-following technique and obstacle detection that allows the wheelchair convoy to weave through high-volume human traffic.