ITRI to Hone Taiwan's Edges in Autonomous Driving Technologies

To assist local auto parts suppliers and high-tech firms to better tap tremendous business potential amid autonomous driving trends, Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), a Taiwanese government-funded R&D institute, held earlier a promotion meeting to further explain to the investors its cooperation program for the development of an autonomous driving sensing sub-system, while unveiling its ambition to build the first homegrown self-driving bus in Taiwan.

Showing intense interest in the cooperation program, over 170 Taiwanese companies attended the meeting, which included such prestigious ones as Chunghwa Telecom, the largest telecom company on the island; Acer Inc., a multinational hardware and electronics maker specializing in advanced electronics technology; Alpha Networks Inc., a firm that possess highly capable design, manufacturing, service resources in networking products; LITE-ON Group, a company that focuses on the development of optoelectronics and key electronic components; and Realtek, a premier IC design house.

In the meeting, ITRI also shared the vision and R&D progress of its autonomous bus. To differ from its foreign counterparts and world's major carmakers, which mostly dedicate resources to the development of autonomous driving technologies for family cars, ITRI decided to explore its own niche market with advanced sub-systems applied in middle-sized self-driving buses. ITRI introduced its conceptual design of a self-driving bus, which is developed with integration of multiple complicated sensing technologies such as Lidar (light detection and ranging), radar, sensors, and video image recognition system, and features inferential capability during operation.

Tzi-Cker Chiueh, Vice President and General Director of Information and Communications Research Laboratories of ITRI, noted that through utilizing the abovementioned technologies, the bus will be able to pinpoint its own location and to plan driving routes so as to provide the necessary data for the self-driving system.

With complete supply chain in the industries of integrated circuit (IC) design, auto electronics, telecommunication technology R&D and auto equipment, as well as outstanding flexible manufacturing and cost-control capability, ITRI believes that Taiwan, riding on the edge provided by its newly developed sensing sub-system, will be able to build a robust ground in the global self-driving market.

Chiueh noted that ITRI, jointly with Institute for Information Industry (III) and National Chung-Shan Institute of Science & Technology (NCSIST), will continue to develop some key technologies such as multi-sensors fusion, and image database for deep learning, to help better connect those industries.

Meanwhile, ITRI plans to adopt an innovative cooperation mode to invite industry insiders to participate in the R&D process so as to speed up commercialization of its self-driving sub-systems and the said bus, and to maximize benefits for industries involved. By doing so, ITRI aims to aid Taiwanese suppliers to build positive links with potential buyers from all corners of the world.

According to IEK, in 2030, global market demand for autonomous driving and Internet of Vehicles (IoV) will expand to US$800 billion (NT$23.3 trillion).

With application items for autonomous vehicles being extremely comprehensive and popular at CES 2018, the world's gathering place for all who thrive on the business of consumer technologies, it is not overstated that autonomous driving related technologies have already become the most promising product category for auto electronic firms for now.

With an aim to lay the foundation for Taiwanese firms engaged in self-driving technologies and to boost Taiwan's global competitiveness, ITRI is scheduled to finish self-driving system tests by the end of this year, and will continue to establish Taiwan's first video image data base with an 100 thousand kilometers mark.