Self-driving vehicle service provider 7Starlake Co Ltd (喜門史塔雷克) yesterday said it plans to form a joint venture with French-based EasyMile SAS by the end of this year to produce autonomous cars in Taiwan.
EasyMile is a start-up that specializes in autonomous vehicle software and “smart” mobility solutions. The company has commercial projects in Switzerland, Australia and Singapore.
The two firms have been working together to promote electromobility projects since 2015, 7Starlake said.
“We hope to manufacture autonomous cars with more than 50 percent local content over the coming years,” 7Starlake general manager Martin Ting (丁彥允) said at a media gathering in Taipei.
Taking advantage of the nation’s existing supply chains in the car industry, the two companies aim to reduce tariffs and transportation costs, with a goal to build prototypes next year and begin mass production of Taiwan-made autonomous cars in 2019, 7Starlake said.
Ting said 7Starlake is seeking potential business partners that make batteries, automotive components or motors in Taichung and Changhua, which are Taiwan’s key production hub for global automakers.
In the mid-term, the company plans to deploy driverless shuttles in Taiwan, achieving autonomous public transportation through collaboration with local governments, such as Changhua County.
This year, 7Starlake has conducted trial runs of its driverless car service in Kaohsiung and Taipei.
The Changhua County Government said it would introduce EZ-10 vehicles, which are capable of transporting up to 12 people and have a maximum speed of 40km per hour.
The county plans to launch its autonomous shuttle project in two phases.
The first phase would provide shuttle service between Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp’s (THSRC, 台灣高鐵) Changhua Station and Hsinchu Park, while the second phase would connect the Changhua Station and Taiwan Railway Administration’s Tianjhong Station, Changhua County Commissioner Wei Ming-ku (魏明谷) said.
The whole project is scheduled to be completed in 2020 at a cost of nearly NT$1.83 billion (US$60.54 million), Wei said.
Changhwa County plans to lay down exclusive lanes for self-driving vehicles, he said, adding that the county also plans to develop a vehicle-to-grid system that can turn electric vehicles into energy storage equipment to help buffer the fluctuating electricity in power networks.
Ryanair, Transavia, Volotea and other low-cost airlines are feeling the financial pain from high jet fuel prices as a result of the Middle East war and are cutting flights. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has taken a huge chunk of oil supplies off the market, sending the price of jet fuel soaring and triggering fears of shortages that could force airlines to cancel flights. Airlines are not waiting for a lack of supplies to react. “Travel alert: Airlines are cutting thousands of flights right now,” Travel Therapy host Karen Schaler said in an Instagram reel this past weekend.
MANAGING RISKS: Taiwan has secured LNG sufficient to cover 95 percent of electricity demand for next month, UBS said, describing the government’s approach as proactive UBS Group AG has raised its forecast for Taiwan’s economic growth this year to 8 percent, up from 6.9 percent previously, and said expansion could reach as high as 8.6 percent if external energy shocks are avoided. The upgrade reflects a stronger-than-expected first-quarter performance and sustained momentum in artificial intelligence (AI)-driven exports, which UBS said are providing a firm foundation for growth despite geopolitical and energy risks. Taiwan’s GDP expanded 13.69 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, the fastest growth since the second quarter of 1987, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) reported on Thursday. On a seasonally
The Fair Trade Commission’s (FTC) ongoing review of Grab Holdings Ltd’s US$600 million acquisition of Foodpanda Taiwan’s operations, announced on March 23, has taken on fresh urgency as industry experts warn that the transaction could embed significant Chinese cybersecurity vulnerabilities into Taiwan’s digital infrastructure through Grab’s deep ties to autonomous-driving firm WeRide (文遠知行). Less than 16 months after the FTC blocked Uber Eats’ direct attempt to acquire Foodpanda Taiwan — citing potential combined market shares of 80 to 90 percent — the emergence of Grab as the buyer has prompted questions about whether the same competitive harm is simply being rerouted
The list of Asian stocks that benefit from business partnership with Nvidia Corp is getting longer, as the region further integrates into the artificial intelligence (AI) chip giant’s business ecosystem. Just in the past week, South Korea’s LG Electronics Inc, Taiwan’s Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技), as well as China’s Huizhou Desay SV Automotive Co (德賽西威) and Pateo Connect Technology Shanghai Corp (博泰車聯) have become the latest to rally on news of tie-ups, supply-chain participation or product collaboration with the US chip designer. Asian suppliers account for about 90 percent of Nvidia’s production costs, up from about 65 percent last year, data compiled
RSS