Cyberjaya now home to Malaysia’s first autonomous vehicle testing route

Mahadhir (left) and Isham posing with the Proton Exora self-driving car. — Futurise

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia will start testing autonomous vehicles (AVs) on two routes stretching 7km in total in Cyberjaya.

A shorter route loops around Futurise and MaGIC buildings, and a longer one includes Persiaran Apec, Persiaran Cyberpoint and Persiaran Rimba.

Dubbed the Cyberjaya Malaysia Autonomous Vehicle (MyAV) Testing Route, it was developed by Futurise, a subsidiary of Cyberview Sdn Bhd, with the Transport Ministry under the National Regulatory Sandbox (NRS) initiative.

At the end of 2019, The Guideline For The AV Trialing on Public Roads in Cyberjaya was completed and endorsed by the ministry and MPSepang before work on the testing routes began, according to a statement.

The guideline outlined key safety risk and mitigation procedures such as having a trained safety officer in the vehicle and requiring a compulsory visual identifier to be used at all times during testing.

The vehicle must have its signal lights on and road signage must be placed at each entry point of the route to inform other drivers that an AV is being trialled.

Transport Ministry secretary general Datuk Isham Ishak said: "The future of autonomous vehicles is expected to be huge, penetrating even the trucking industry, vessels or other passenger carrying vehicles like buses.”

The government has to be a step ahead in terms of providing guidance and strong infrastructure, and be quick to assess new regulations, he added.

Expanding the coverage to a few key locations such as Putrajaya will be the ​next step, said Futurise CEO Mahadhir Aziz.

Futurise, as a public policy advisor for the industry and government, said it’s looking into a future policy that will cover regulatory and job creation aspects.

All applications to utilise the Cyberjaya AV testing route must be directed to Futurise as the secretariat.

The application will be considered by the MyAV Evaluation Committee chaired by the Transport Ministry together with MPSepang​, ​Road Transport Department Malaysia (JPJ), Land Public Transport Agency (APAD), ​Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS)​, ​Malaysia Automotive Robotics and IoT Institute (​MARii) and Automotive Development Centre, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (ADC, UTM).