Dubai World Congress for Self-Driving Transport, organized by Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) Dubai on Oct. 15th and 16th 2019 has attracted more than 700 technology leaders and innovators, and the list of Self-Driving Transport winners was announced at the awards ceremony. In the start-ups category, iAuto from Taiwan took the runner-up prize and bagged USD 500,000, while the first USD 1 million went to Sensible 4 from Finland, and UAE-based Derq Company finished third.

The iAuto team participated in the 2019 Dubai World Challenge for Self-Driving Transport and entered top 3 in August 2019, out of the 15 qualified for the finals. Since the announcement of the challenge, the Dubai World Challenge for Self-Driving Transport went through a series of phases. From April to June this year, a Dubai team made overseas visits to Taiwan, Finland, Australia and other countries to assess the performance of these start-ups.

The iAuto team is the only participating group from East Asia. The team consists of groups from academia, industry and government in Taiwan: Dr. Kang Li and Dr. Jung-Ho Cheng from National Taiwan University (NTU), Dr. Dao-Yi Huang and his research team from Ming Chi University of Technology (MCUT), L. L. iAuto Technology LTD, the Formosa Plastics Transport Corporation, and Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI).

The Taiwan iAuto team held a press conference, an opening ceremony for the self-driving bus show car, and the ceremony of signing the cooperation memo by four parties on Aug. 26 at the Fu Bell at NTU. These four parties include Dr. Chung-Ming Kuan, President of NTU, Dr. Thu-Hua Liu, President of MCUT, Mr. Sheng-Guang Chen, Chairperson of Formosa Plastics Transport Corporation, and Mr. Syun-Nong Li, Chairperson of L. L. iAuto Technology LTD. Chen Chi-Mai, Vice Premier of the Executive Yuan and Dr. Hong-Tsu Young, Chairperson of the Taiwan Transportation Safety Board were invited to attend the event.

Dr. Chung-Ming Kuan said that self-driving is a new trend in the development of modern science and technology. In addition to focusing on academic research, NUT also expects to have further integration with the industry. The iAuto team shows a major achievement in the cooperation among industries, universities and research institutes.

Vice Premier Chen Chi-mai further said that the Executive Yuan has granted 5G licenses to the country's major telecom operators six months earlier than originally planned. From a peak speed perspective, 5G is 20 times faster than 4G. In addition, the large bandwidth and wide range, plus the new use of technology, facilitate data transmission and smart applications on transportation.

The modular design of the autopilot system used by the iAuto team integrates the ITRI V2X vehicle networking technology, which can be installed on different types of vehicles. It can be semi-automatically driven without damaging the original structure and safety of the vehicle. If necessary, it can be restored to the manual driving mode. The team aims to achieve Dubai's official goal of making 25% of all trips in Dubai to be smart and driverless by 2030.

Related links:

Innovation and Incubation Center, Ming Chi University of Technology

College of Engineering, Ming Chi University of Technology

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ming Chi University of Technology

Dubai World Challenge for Self-Driving Transport Winners Announced for Prizes Worth USD 5.1 Million

iAuto Technology

Dubai World SD Challenge – Be Part Of This Innovative Competition