ComfortDelGro has launched an Autonomous Vehicle Academy to help employees and taxi drivers acquire new skills for roles such as autonomous vehicle safety operators, remote operators, fleet supervisors and technicians, as autonomous driving services expand and transport workers may face career transitions. Group CEO and Managing Director Cheng Siak Kian introduced the academy after speaking to local media at Singapore Urban Mobility Week on Wednesday (4 November), where he took part in a panel discussion titled “AV in High Density Cities: From Vision to Reality.” Cheng said the group’s experience operating autonomous vehicles in Singapore and China had shown the need to train operators for future deployments, and that the academy is targeted not just at its own workers but eventually for the whole industry. The academy will support the government’s workforce transformation package and career conversion programme for autonomous vehicle professionals. ComfortDelGro has signed memorandums of understanding with MOGOX, Ohmio, UISEE and 2getthere, bus manufacturer Zhongtong Bus, and Singtel. ComfortDelGro’s Zig Driverless has completed 10,000 trips in Punggol and is preparing to trial an “on-demand booking” feature allowing passengers to book an autonomous vehicle directly between any two existing pick-up and drop-off points rather than following a fixed route.