According to Wall Street Journal, an autonomous vehicle startup backed by Ford Motor Co. Chairman Bill Ford raised $16 million in additional funding with an eye on launching autonomous taxis in Singapore this autumn.

One of the leading developers of self-driving technology, Cambridge, Mass.-based nuTonomy is racing heavyweights--including Uber Technologies Inc., General Motors Co. and Alphabet Inc.--to further testing of autonomous cars on public roads.

The company was spun out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2013, and counts Highland Capital Partners LLC and Singapore's economic development arm among its investors. In January, it raised $3.6 million from a group of investors that included Mr. Ford's venture-capital firm, Fontinalis Partners.

NuTonomy Chief Executive Karl Iagnemma said the latest round is 'going to let us accelerate our progress--more people and more cars.' It plans to launch a commercial autonomous taxi service in 2018.

Singapore is widely expected to lead the way in public testing of autonomous cars. It plans to invest heavily in creating infrastructure for self driving cars, and promises to ease regulatory headaches for auto companies and other firms looking to break ground.

'We are inviting companies and research institutions to test-bed their technology and concepts here, in real-life, mixed-use traffic conditions,' Singapore's Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Transport Kin Keong Pang said in a statement. 'We are contributing financial resources in these partnerships and we are able to fast-track regulatory and other administrative approvals, and get the trials and test-beds up and running quickly and with minimum fuss.'

NuTonomy was one of eight companies including Uber and BMW AG that submitted proposals to the country to run autonomous-driving projects.

There are similar efforts under way in other nations, including the U.S. GM, for instance, aims to launch an autonomous taxi service in partnership with Lyft Inc.'s ride hailing service within a year; Uber, a Lyft rival, and Alphabet's Google car program also aim to use public roads for similar pilots.

Questions about regulatory hurdles and infrastructure are among the list of challenges that need to be addressed, say industry experts.

NuTonomy is using retrofitted Mitsubishi iMiev electric cars and is expected to add Renault Zoe EVs in its autonomous cab service later this year. The firm specializes in developing the brain of the car -- how it acts -- leveraging others technology for sensing. NuTonomy also is testing autonomous vehicles in Michigan.

In 2014, nuTonomy ran an autonomous shuttle in a park that could be summoned by an app. The effort provided insight into how people would act in autonomous cabs, it said.

'The first few minutes are shear terror that amazingly, quickly transitions from acceptance to boredom,' Mr. Iagnemma said. 'We found that people would mess with the steering wheel to see what would happen -- there was almost reckless behavior that people would engage in.'