Programme title and organiser(s)

Smart Mobility Series (5): Story behind the first unmanned car in Hong Kong

Date, Time and Venue

12 September 2018 (Wed), 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. at the HKIE HQ 9/F – James Chiu & Dragages Rooms

Speaker(s) (if applicable)

Prof. Michael Yu Wang, HKUST Robotic Institute

Programme highlight

The global development of self-driving cars is intriguing. Singapore is planning to have an entire fleet of driverless taxis and has already conducted trials in the city. Major players including Uber and General Motors are intensively investing in self-driving services or cars.

Imagine how our ways of living, cities and urban space will dramatically change as roads, neighbourhoods, public transport and freight system will all be tailored for such an evolving autonomous future. The city-scale data generated and collected will also have enormous accumulated impacts on building a smart and resilient city.

In Hong Kong, researchers at HKUST Robotics Institute have also launched an advanced unmanned passenger vehicle system incorporating navigation system based on laser sensors and dynamic modelling. Prof Michael Yu Wang from the Institute will share with us the story behind this breakthrough. Come and explore where this first unmanned car in Hong Kong can bring us to!

Registration details (e.g. contact and fee)

This seminar is free-of-charge and prior registration is required. The number of participants is limited to 80 and applications will be accepted on a first-come first-served basis. For registration, please enroll to joan.cheng@arup.com with our standard reply form.

Enquiry details

Ms Joan Cheng (joan.cheng@arup.com)

Smart Mobility Series (5): Story behind the first unmanned car in Hong Kong

By Ir Carmen Chu

The global development of self-driving cars is intriguing. Singapore is planning to have an entire fleet of driverless taxis and has already conducted trials in the city. Canada’s first fully electric autonomous shuttle to be used on public roads will hit the streets near Montreal this September. Major players including Uber and General Motors are intensively investing in self-driving services or cars. In Hong Kong, researchers at HKUST Robotics Institute have also launched an advanced unmanned passenger vehicle system incorporating navigation system based on laser sensors and dynamic modelling.

In the seminar, Prof Michael Yu Wang, Director of HKUST Robotics Institute, shared with us the story behind this breakthrough. He started with an updated report of the market and research trends of the global autonomous vehicles market. He presented the key players’ involvement in researching and manufacturing of this technology and covered the discussion on the market challenges and strategies to solve them. Details of how the perception of the obstacles achieved by applying technology of using LiDAR (laser range finders) were fully explained to the audience. From planning, design to implementation, he shared with us the interesting story behind how they first launched out their test run of the autonomous vehicles within the HKUST campus.

He further elaborated that autonomous driving is moving forward globally in a progression of scaled technology, defined in “levels” of automation, start from Level 0 (no Automation), Level 1&2 (Driver Assistance), Level 3 (Autonomous Under Certain Circumstances) to Level 4 &5 (Fully Autonomous). He remarked that the biggest challenge for the development of autonomous vehicle is the availability of critical mass and skills to tackle the key problems, including external funding, facilities, and industry involvement.

After the presentation, there were discussions on the floor to exchange ideas on the safety aspects, availability of proven technologies and key challenges for wider application of the system in Hong Kong.  The seminar was very informative and futuristic.