The government should take the lead in developing driverless cars, because the industry requires information sharing across multiple systems, academics said yesterday.
National Taiwan University collaborated with Taiwan’s 7starlake Co Ltd and France-based driverless shuttle manufacturer EasyMile to introduce driverless buses on campus, academics said, adding that the university’s Department of Mechanical Engineering is in the live-test stage of Taiwan-produced self-driven vehicles.
College of Engineering dean Yen Jia-yush (顏家鈺) said Taiwan still had a chance of matching the pace of other nations in automated vehicle development.
Taiwan is capable of manufacturing information and communication technology, radar, imaging and ultrasonic detection technology, Yen said, adding that it only lacks comprehensive integration of these separate systems.
The most important part of automated driving is the programming of the artificial intelligence system, Yen said, adding that while the university could write such programs, more research in machine learning is required.
University professor Lee Kang (李綱) said that most automated vehicle developers in foreign nations aim to create vehicles capable of driving on expressways.
Self-driving cars are already allowed on San Francisco roads and much of California, Lee said.
Singapore has also been pursuing this field for several years, and if Taiwan does not act within five years, it might be too late, Lee said.
Should Taiwan succeed in introducing self-driving cars into a complex traffic environment, such a system could be promoted in Southeast Asia or China, which share similar traffic environments, Lee said.
The government should take the lead, begin integrating resources and establish a traffic data cloud, Lee said.
Only with government leadership can the nation make a breakthrough in the industry, Lee said, adding that the government should keep in mind the disaster that occurred when individual companies were allowed to research electric scooter development.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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