As cities look to automate their transport systems, Chinese autonomous vehicle (AV) companies are leading the way, testing vehicles including robot buses, vans and road sweepers.

Singapore’s small size and advanced road infrastructure have helped to make it one of the leading countries for driverless buses. The island nation even built a mini-town – complete with a rain machine to simulate the island’s frequent tropical downpours – as a test circuit. Automated public transport could help Singapore to overcome some of the challenges faced by one of densest and fastest-aging populations in the world. With a quarter of its people set to be over the age of 65 by 2030, Singapore hopes driverless buses will help ease mobility issues for seniors and solve a future shortage of bus drivers.