The Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Automotive Research & Testing Center (ARTC, 車輛研究測試中心) yesterday unveiled the nation’s first domestically designed and developed autonomous minibus.
The minibus, christened Winbus, with “win” sounding similar to a Chinese word (穩) meaning “steady,” is Taiwan’s first step in the domain of highly automated vehicles, Minister of Economic Affairs Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津) told a news conference in Taipei.
The vehicle was developed with the help of local companies, including Gigabyte Technology Co (技嘉), which provided autonomous controllers, Acer ITS Inc (宏碁智通), which handled real-time kinematic applied GPS, Inventec Corp (英業達), which supplied cabin display modules, and Kingwaytek Technology Co (勤崴), which supports the autonomous driving system, the ministry said.
Photo: CNA
Winbus has Level 4 autonomous driving capabilities as determined by the US-based Society of Automotive Engineers, meaning no human intervention is needed, as the vehicle is capable of handling most situations, the ministry said.
“Several cities, counties and townships have shown interest in implementing the automated minibus in their transportation networks,” Shen said, adding that the ministry has approved several programs to launch the nation’s autonomous vehicle industry.
The Legislative Yuan passed the Unmanned Vehicles Technology Innovative Experimentation Act (無人載具科技創新實驗條例) on Nov. 30 last year, which allows companies to test autonomous vehicles with local government authorization, he said.
“We aim to begin sandbox testing of Winbus by the fourth quarter this year,” ARTC president Liao Ching-chiu (廖慶秋) said, adding that the center has already negotiated a sightseeing itinerary with the Changhua County Government that is to transport people from Lukang Tianhou Temple (鹿港天后宮) to the Changhua Coastal Industrial Park (彰濱工業區).
Winbus is most suitable for tourism use, as the vehicle is compact, meaning it can handle mountainous or crowded areas easily, but also spacious, as there is no steering wheels or pedals.
“We are negotiating with local authorities in Kaohsiung to use Winbus to transport people from metro stations to tramway stops,” ARTC chairman Joe Huang (黃隆洲) said.
Winbus could also be used to transport tourists to and from the city’s Love River (愛河), Huang said.
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