Singapore's quiet rise in the global 'deep tech' race

SINGAPORE -- Under a clear blue sky on Oct. 1, a city in China's northeastern municipality of Tianjin launched its first driverless public bus service. Spanning 20 kilometers, the daily network connects 10 stops across residential areas, schools, government offices and tourist attractions.

The vehicles, however, were not developed by a domestic company but by a little-known startup from Singapore called Moovita. A spinoff from the government's high-profile Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), it is the first foreign autonomous vehicle (AV) provider to be licensed in China.