As AI-powered robots, autonomous vehicles and drones move from testing environments into real-world operations, ensuring their safety, security and reliability has become increasingly critical. In response, ST Engineering announced plans to establish a Transparency Centre in Singapore, slated to open in the first quarter of 2027. The Centre will provide specialised, independent assurance services to assess and validate autonomous platforms before they are deployed in real-world settings.

The Transparency Centre will help organisations realise the potential of autonomous platforms and cyber-physical systems, including autonomous vehicles, drones and mobile robots. Its services will include independent assessments, rigorous cybersecurity validation and targeted hardening to strengthen system security and resilience. By providing greater transparency into the technologies they deploy, the Centre will enable customers to make informed decisions and adopt autonomous systems with greater confidence in their safety, resilience and trustworthiness.

The initiative builds on ST Engineering’s expertise in securing critical information infrastructure and protecting business-critical data across information technology (IT), operational technology (OT) and cloud environments. It will combine the Group’s capabilities in robotics, autonomous technologies and mission-critical systems for smart cities, positioning the Centre as a trusted partner to help organisations assess, strengthen and manage their autonomous systems throughout their lifecycle.

“As AI becomes embedded in critical systems, trust can no longer be assumed. It must be engineered, tested and assured. Our Transparency Centre will provide independent assurance and rigorous cybersecurity validation to help customers verify that their autonomous platforms and cyber-physical systems are secure, resilient and ready for their intended operational use,” said Goh Eng Choon, President, Cyber, ST Engineering.

Independent assurance prior to deployment

Aligned with the NIST Cybersecurity Framework, the Transparency Centre will conduct in-depth assessments to identify hidden vulnerabilities, security weaknesses and software supply chain risks. Using advanced binary analysis technology, it will examine software binaries and firmware directly without requiring access to proprietary source code.

Beyond identifying risks, the Centre will help organisations strengthen their systems through targeted remediation and cybersecurity upgrades. These measures may include implementing stronger hardware roots of trust to protect systems handling sensitive data, as well as enhancing encryption for data storage and communications. Together, these measures aim to improve the security and resilience of autonomous platforms, enabling organisations to deploy and operate them with greater confidence.