Taiwan's President Dr Tsai Ing-Wen tested-ride autonomous shuttle bus on the opening of Taoyuan Agriculture Expo on April 4, 2018. Since then, around 80-100 citizens had experienced the vehicle. Dr Kent Wang, Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications, also took a ride on May 2 with great satisfaction.
Rather than importing from foreign companies, the buses on the show were developed by ITS Taiwan's task force, led by Sunsky International. In fact, 70% of the components are made by Taiwan firms. Embedded with HD cameras, the on-board system sees and drives the vehicle as what human drivers do. After repeated training using artificial intelligence (AI), the bus learns about the environment and constructs its autonomous driving model.
According to Dr Kent Wang, MOTC Deputy Minister, the fact that 70% of the bus components are made by Taiwan demonstrates the country's capability to grow autonomous vehicle (AV) industry at home. He then pictures a bright future for Taiwan's ICT and startups that would work together and form Taiwan's "National AV Team" that aims to export internationally.
