At the recent Transportation Technology and Industry meeting, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) announced plans to invest approximately two trillion dollars over the next ten years in these seven focus areas to boost Taiwan’s transportation and economic growth. 

Bicycle and tourism industry: Creating a cyclists’ paradise

Taiwan, a country blessed with vast natural beauty and friendly people, is a leading global manufacturer and designer of high-performance bicycles. MOTC’s vision is to work with the public to make full use of the country’s natural and industrial advantages, creating a model bicycling culture. 

The boost to bicycle tourism aside, green transportation solutions are imperative for dealing with global warming. Integrating bicycle services with public transit would be an ideal solution, with the construction of bicycle lanes and right tourism marketing strategy amplifying its benefits.

In the future, the focus will be on optimizing the bicycle-riding environment and increasing safety and service friendliness. The committee will endeavor to create a user-friendly bicycle tourism environment – encompassing every aspect from route planning to signal design.  

Smart Railway IoT: Hard power to raise global competitiveness

Railway is the high-tech industry that will be receiving the largest share of investment from the committee. Starting with the concept of domestic vehicle manufacturing, the committee will continue its efforts to promote intelligent railways and local policies for railway electrical and mechanical services (E&M). The purpose of which is to advance industrial technology and to increase participation of Taiwan manufacturers to form national teams that will strengthen the industry. 

To bring Taiwan’s railway technology and experience onto the world stage, inspection and certification processes will be established in compliance with international standards, along with careful planning of relevant fields. This will be key in pushing the industry in the right direction and improving railway operation quality so that it can play a role in Taiwan’s hard power.

Smart electric bus + intelligent public transportation service industry: Bring happiness all the way home

When it comes to public transportation, an integrated solution connecting different systems for ticketing, scheduling and even services is needed to create cross-industry, value-added industry applications. Using the concept of the “Happiness Bus,” the Intelligent Public Transportation Service Industry Group will develop smart city mobility solutions through regional integration and big data applications, covering electrical vehicles and intelligent road network management services.

As electric buses have become an international trend, MOTC plans to replace existing buses with electrical ones before 2030 to solve urban air pollution problems. At the same time, the committee will establish a domestic industry chain for electric buses, including self-driving vehicle technology, charging solutions and more. More thought and planning would be needed to ensure local certifications are always on par with international standards. 

Smart e-scooter technology industry: From safety to sharing, stepping into the new future

Although the focus globally is still on technology for four-wheel drive (4WD) self-driving vehicles, there is a huge demand for scooters in Taiwan and Southeast Asia, making e-scooter development an important task as well. Initial challenges that need to be tackled include smart e-scooter safety and the Internet-of-vehicles trend – how big data can be used to increase safety and convenience has become the key point for growth in the future.

Also, scooter-sharing and associated services will become a future growth driver. As scooter sharing business models become more mature, this will bring about new future opportunities for the industry.

Intelligent seaports and airports + intelligent logistics service industry: Moving towards quality, safety, efficiency and sustainability

Second only to railway construction in terms of investment, intelligent seaports and airports are expected to create 500 billion dollars’ worth of output value in the future. Technology can be utilized to enhance the quality, safety, efficiency and sustainability of these smart infrastructures, including dynamic systems that can manage vessels in surrounding waters and smart e-gates. It can also improve services and create competitive advantages, and most importantly realize the country’s vision of industrialization, localization and informatization. 

For intelligent logistics, the goal is to integrate upstream, midstream and downstream industrial segments, plan out free trade zones and fully satisfy the demands driving industrial development. Additionally, the committee plans to provide ready assistance for industry upgrades to address current omnichannel logistic challenges.

Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology: Field experimentation and management

In response to current advances in UAV technology and future industry applications, Taiwan is expected to perform well on the world stage through cross-industry cooperation. Currently, the leading domestic technology industry is being held back by the lack of practical applications, opportunities for tech testing and improvement, and field experiments, the solution to which would require the involvement of different ministries. Secondly, it is important to determine how regulations and guidelines can be managed through law revisions, such as the coordination of UAV flight paths with Air Traffic Control (ATC)

Local government attitude will also influence future industrial development, requiring good communication and energy management. Finally, cultivating talent for research and development, as well as management would be key to pushing the industry forward into the future.

5G smart transportation experimental field + transportation big data technology industry: 5G imagination and creation ecology laboratory

To create a “human-centric and impactful” intelligent transportation system, the 5G smart transportation experimental field focuses on four areas – the establishment of next-generation transportation services and infrastructure through cross-boundary cooperation; promotion of new industry standards and verification processes; development of regulatory measures for the transportation technology experimental field and emerging services; as well as the creation of an industry value chain that will expand potential benefits. Through this ecology laboratory and steady investments to fully realize 5G, Taiwan can build on its efforts to establish itself as a global benchmark and model for Mobility as a service (MaaS).

“I believe that 5G applications are not limited to telecommunications and transportation. Every industry will be impacted by technology innovations in this field. A forward-looking approach becomes even more important for government departments to help companies face the future of this industry,” said Lin.

By carefully planning for the new future of transportation technology, the Transportation Technology and Industry Committee is paving the way for cross-ministerial integration of strategies and actions that promote the white paper on transportation technology. The committee hopes to promote the industry and support Taiwan’s economy, moving forward into the future through national development plans.