President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday opened the nation’s first closed testing ground for self-driving cars, the Taiwan CAR (connected, autonomous and road-test) Lab in Tainan.
“Autonomous car technology is an opportunity that Taiwanese industries cannot miss,” and it is expected to help bring local vehicle component manufacturing and the entire technological industry to new heights, she said.
Following the enactment of the Act for Uncrewed Vehicle Technology Innovations and Experiments (無人載具科技創新實驗條例) last year, other traffic regulations, and financial and insurance systems are being planned, Tsai said.
Photo: Chien Hui-ju, Taipei Times
Tsai and former premier William Lai (賴清德) — a former Tainan mayor — toured the lab site in a car made by the Automotive Research and Testing Center, one of three at the facility, with the vehicle easily moving around a car-shaped barrier.
The Taiwan CAR Lab covers 1.75 hectares in the Salun Smart Green Energy Science City compound and features 13 simulated traffic scenarios, the National Applied Research Laboratories (NARL) said.
The other vehicles at the lab were made by Acer Inc (宏碁) and National Cheng Kung University faculty, and they can achieve level 4 automation — high automation without human presence in specific conditions, NARL Planning and Promotion Office associate researcher Chang Lung-yao (張龍耀) said.
Photo: Chien Hui-ju, Taipei Times
However, crew members are required to be on standby inside the vehicles at this stage, Chang said.
Building the Taiwan CAR Lab cost about NT$250 million (US$8.12 million at the current exchange rate) and took nine months, he said, adding that test dummies, fake motor scooters and a rain simulation would be added later.
Automated cars have to undergo testing within a closed area before they can be tested on open roads, and step-by-step progress is more suitable to Taiwan given its limited market scope, Minister of Science and Technology Chen Liang-gee (陳良基) said.
The ministry is collaborating with the European Chamber of Commerce Taiwan to ensure that the safety standards for local autonomous cars match global criteria, Chen said.
Driverless navigation is a cross-disciplinary industry that is open to students in all university departments, especially as some researchers are studying passenger behavior in such vehicles, he added.
The Office of Science and Technology is consulting with the six special municipalities about using larger autonomous buses for public transport in designated areas, which might happen next year, office Executive Secretary Tsai Zse-hong (蔡志宏) said.
A group of Cheng Kung students attended yesterday’s opening ceremony to see a model car they helped developed with Juang Jyh-ching (莊智清), a professor of electrical engineering, and other faculty members.
Integrating data collected from the vehicle’s sensing, positioning and controlling systems was the most challenging part of developing it, and their team would continue to work on improving related technology for future road testing in populated areas, the students said.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
BULLY TACTICS: Beijing has continued its incursions into Taiwan’s airspace even as Xi Jinping talked about Taiwan being part of the Chinese family and nation China should stop its coercion of Taiwan and respect mainstream public opinion in Taiwan about sovereignty if its expression of goodwill is genuine, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. Ministry spokesman Jeff Liu (劉永健) made the comment in response to media queries about a meeting between former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) the previous day. Ma voiced support for the so-called “1992 consensus,” while Xi said that although the two sides of the Taiwan Strait have “different systems,” this does not change the fact that they are “part of the same country,” and that “external
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source