Grab and NUS set up AI lab in Singapore to make cities smarter

Technology company Grab and the National University of Singapore (NUS) has set up an artificial intelligence (AI) lab to help develop smarter cities in South-east Asia. The partnership intends to solve challenges such as congestion and the liveability of cities in the region. The Grab-NUS AI Lab, part of an initial joint investment of S$6m (£3.3m), will utilise data from the Grab platform to provide insights into how citizens move across cities. It will also be used to map out traffic patterns and ident
July 20, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
Technology company Grab and the National University of Singapore (NUS) has set up an artificial intelligence (AI) lab to help develop smarter cities in South-east Asia. The partnership intends to solve challenges such as congestion and the liveability of cities in the region.


The Grab-NUS AI Lab, part of an initial joint investment of S$6m (£3.3m), will utilise data from the Grab platform to provide insights into how citizens move across cities. It will also be used to map out traffic patterns and identify ways to impact mobility directly.

Initially, the companies will work together to improve the efficiency and reliability of transport on the Grab platform. Researchers at the laboratory will create an AI platform for machine learning and visual analytics to help develop applications from Grab’s data set.

Additionally, the team will develop algorithms to provide passengers with smart services based on insights into their needs and to improve accuracy when mapping pick-up points. The technology is also expected to detect traffic events and anomalies in real time and improve urban traffic flow.

Anthony Tan, Grab co-founder, says data from the platform shows how travel time from the region of Newton to the Tanjong Pagar district can be improved.

“If this route would be better served by more shared transport solutions, such as buses, trains, GrabShuttle, GrabShare or GrabHitch, we could bring travel time during peak hour down by one third or from 40 to 28 minutes,” Tan adds.

Urban Traffic Control

Related Content

  • An innovation lab – not a burden
    June 27, 2018
    Travellers want to be able to book multimodal journeys easily – and to be informed of problems and alternatives as they go. Adam Roark might just be able to help, finds Ben Spencer. The global shift in transportation towards members of the public wanting access to multimodal journeys is rapidly changing how people pay and plan ahead. Buying tickets from a machine and dealing with the frustration of discovering your train is cancelled is a scenario commuters want to avoid through technology’s ability to
    Read More
  • RideCo platform powers Grab shuttle buses in South East Asia
    March 29, 2018
    RideCo’s platform will power Grab’s dynamic shuttle bus and van businesses for its corporate and consumer clients, following a trial conducted in Singapore. The service, according to James Ong, head of GrabShuttle, is predicted to complement the existing public transport network, allowing companies and individual consumers to benefit from shared transportation. Under the agreement, RideCo will power several dynamic, on-demand services for Grab including short-distance trips within neighbourhoods
    Read More
  • Telensa and Samsung SDS partner on smart city infrastructure
    May 8, 2019
    Telensa has joined forces with Samsung SDS to work on smart city projects in Asia Pacific and the US. Starting with Korea, the partners will collaborate on smart streetlighting, combining Telensa’s Planet Streetlight control application with Samsung’s Brightics Internet of Things (IoT) platform to help cities save energy and access a range of sensor applications. Telensa will utilise Samsung’s resources in areas such as 5G and blockchain, which require streetlight access for widescale deployment.
    Read More
  • Grab upgrades on-demand Singapore carpooling service
    July 15, 2019
    Grab has added a new option to its GrabShare on-demand carpooling service in Singapore which it says provides passengers with better-matched rides. The new option requires users to wait up to five minutes to be allocated a ride. GrabShare’s system matches passengers’ rides with other parties upfront to help minimise detours and lower fares. It also comes with an ‘estimated time to destination’ feature that provides passengers an approximate time that they will arrive at their drop-off points prior to
    Read More

Highlighted Content