FairPrice Group gets approval to use remotely supervised driverless vehicles
Vanessa Paige Chelvan for The Straits Times
The FairPrice Group, which operates supermarket chain NTUC FairPrice, has been given the green light to use autonomous vehicles (AVs) to transport goods on public roads without a safety vehicle accompanying it.
This marks the first time the Land Transport Authority (LTA) has approved the use of remotely supervised AVs on public roads for the purpose of supply chain operations.
In a statement on Oct 8, the FairPrice Group said it plans to use AVs from autonomous driving technology company Zelos to transport goods within and between its distribution centres in Joo Koon and Benoi, which are slightly under 2km apart.
It will use the Zelos Z10, the first fully driverless AV designed for the logistics sector.
These AVs have a load capacity of up to 1.5 tonnes and a range of up to 210km.
They will be used to transport palletised stocks such as fruits and vegetables that can be stored safely at room temperature, packaged products and other essentials, the FairPrice Group added.
In an agreement signed on Oct 7, the FairPrice Group and Zelos agreed to add nearly 30 Zelos AVs to the group's fleet. It currently has one AV, and will get two more by the end of October.
The group had partnered with Zelos to conduct trials in October 2024 and secured LTA's approval to transition to remote operations in 2025.
The first phase of the public road trial began on Oct 18, 2024, and involved the autonomous vehicle going through daily and nightly test drives, accompanied by a safety vehicle.
The group said the use of AVs is expected to lower its CO2 emissions by 27 tonnes per year. It will also cut the number of hours spent on manual tasks such as loading and unloading, freeing up staff to focus on more complex work, it added.
Mr Vipul Chawla, group chief executive of FairPrice Group, said: "Through this initiative with Zelos, we are bolstering our capability to support the nation's supply resilience by introducing innovation that makes our supply chain operations more efficient, sustainable and digitally enabled."
Zelos' partnership with FairPrice Group marks the China-based company's first successful overseas deployment, said its managing director Terry Zhou.
"This deployment dramatically reduces supermarket logistics costs through autonomous driving," he added.
