At present, IoV, or internet of vehicles, is regarded as vital infrastructure in the development of smart cities and is expected to have the fastest industrialization rate of any applied market. IoV includes five main elements: people, vehicles, roads, communication, and service platforms. “People” are road users who are the target of IoV services. “Roads” are necessary infrastructure in the IoV ecosystem. “Vehicles” are the means by which smart network equipment and technology are applied and have the most potential for future development in the industry. “Communication” includes large collections of data that are transmitted within vehicles, between vehicles and the road, and between vehicles and the cloud. “Service platforms” are the platforms for IoV services. With the advent of the 5G era, the advantages of low latency and high bandwidth have greatly reduced communication time and improved load capacity among people, vehicles, roads, and service platforms involved in IoV services, allowing for a new level of intelligent operative collaboration among each IoV element.

The Danhai New Town intelligent transportation open test field, run by the Science and Technology Advisors Office of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC), is a comprehensive test site for IoV in response to the rise of 5G infrastructure. “On the streets of the open test field in Danhai, we set up roadside equipment with 5G and IoV functions, such as video detection and recognition cameras. Test vehicles and regular vehicles interact with pedestrians to simulate real 5G intelligent transportation scenarios where people, vehicles, and roads interact,” Dr. Wu Long-Huang—special assistant to the chairman of Hwacom Systems responsible for this project—explained. Hwacom has also established its own remote intelligent transportation situation center which can react to current conditions in real time.

Taiwan Telematics Industry Association chairman M.F. Wu pointed out that as 5G communication architecture gradually matures, its low latency and high bandwidth can create a new level of collaboration between vehicles and roads. In the future, IoV will be able to monitor and transmit real-time intersection information (accidents or congestion), manage passenger/freight vehicles and monitor driving behavior, and trial and implement self-driving cars, which are currently the most actively promoted of these technologies.

IoV Applications and Solutions Integrated with Daily Life

As IoV applications for self-driving cars catch on like wildfire across the globe, cross-ministerial cooperative projects within the Executive Yuan have continued to grow as domestic test fields experiment with smart transportation and IoV. These projects include: Taiwan CAR Lab in Tainan, a Taipei City experimental project featuring an autonomous bus on a Xinyi bus lane, an autonomous commuter bus between Hsinchu HSR and the Hsinchu Science Park, the Automotive Research and Testing Center in Lukang Township, Changhua, and the Danhai New Town intelligent transportation open test field run by the Science and Technology Advisors Office of the MOTC. 

The Danhai Smart Transportation Situation Center can perceive driving conditions of self-driving cars as they occur in real time.

Meng Yi-Heng, deputy director of the Smart System Institute at the Institute for Information Industry, said that Taiwan has relatively complex traffic conditions as numerous scooters, pedestrians, and bicycles compete for space. “For self-driving cars to run smoothly, connected cars must first have smart devices and rely on cloud-based algorithms to make operational decisions. Roadside units (RSU) are also key IoV equipment for vehicle-road coordination.”

Likewise, as IoV technology gradually matures, utilization of emergency vehicles, as emphasized in the United Nations’ SDG, has also begun to receive attention in Taiwan. We often see fire trucks or ambulances on main roads in the city, honking their horns to tell other drivers to get out of the way. Whether they are headed towards a disaster site or a hospital, this can be extremely dangerous. “The MOTC is building on IoV infrastructure to prioritize emergency vehicles with their own lane for easier passage,” Chou Chia-Ching, a senior transport analyst at the Institute of Transportation, MOTC, said. In the future, emergency vehicles’ location and other relevant information can be sent back to RSU (such as traffic lights) managers so that a lane can be changed to “green” at appropriate times. At the same time, the ambulance can transmit a patient’s vitals and other conditions while on the way to the hospital so that life-saving preparations can be made in advance in this race against time.

Smart coordination of vehicles and roads will also be reflected in our daily driving habits in the future. When passing an intersection, if there is a long line at the red light, drivers in the rear often feel anxious because they cannot see the number of seconds until the light changes. Thus, RSU can transmit real-time information about the red light and the intersection to any cars connected to a smart device. The smart device can then calculate the best and most efficient path forward based on intersection conditions, current speed, and distance to the intersection.

In-car smart devices can calculate the best and most efficient way forward based on intersection conditions, current speed, and distance to intersection.

IoV infrastructure is also an effective way to improve intersection safety. When driving through an intersection with no stoplight, the biggest cause of worry for drivers is not knowing whether or not a car is coming quickly from the other direction. If in-car smart devices can calculate trajectory and time to collision of the two vehicles based on their satellite positioning coordinates and direction / speed with low-latency, immediate warnings can be relayed to drivers, thus avoiding a potential accident.

Testing IoV Solutions and Exporting to Global Market

Dr. Wu Long-Huang is highly confident in the development of Taiwan’s IoV industry. In addition to a solid foundation in the information and communication industry, Taiwan also has a variety of traffic scenarios in its remote villages, big cities, mountainous areas, and tourist spots. D City will use the technologies developed at the Danhai open test field to become an internationally-recognized model of Taiwan’s IoV development. As the Danhai open test field continues to make breakthroughs, D City will gradually become Taiwan’s first new-generation smart city. IoV can be extended to other practical applications, from existing flat intersections with low traffic flow to other commercial, residential, and tourist areas with large disparities in slope, traffic flow, speed limits, road width, etc., and conduct trials related to IoV and self-driving cars. Once trials are successful, existing proof of concept can gradually move to a new stage, proof of service and proof of business. In the future, this technology can be used throughout the world in all sorts of traffic conditions.

M.F. Wu noted that the Taiwan Telematics Industry Association (TTIA), established in 2010 by synergizing industry, government, and academic resources, is working with the government to formulate industry standards and certification procedures for IoV. They hope to promote cross-disciplinary cooperation among the automotive, transportation, service, and information and communication fields and stay up-to-date with international development trends. Wu said, “Taiwan’s semiconductor industry is a global leader. With support from private MIH and other groups, the electric vehicle industry is also slowly rising to that level. In recent years, the Ministry of the Interior has begun to promote production of high-precision IoV maps and fire departments have been testing state-of-the-art IoV solutions for emergency vehicles, all of which are important developments in today’s IoV industry.” Wu believes that it is highly likely that D City IoV solutions will be exported internationally in the future.

D City will use the technologies developed at the Danhai open test field to become an internationally-recognized model of Taiwan’s IoV development and gradually become Taiwan’s first new-generation smart city.

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