Institute of Transportation, MOTC

• Date：2021-11-07
• Update：2024-01-31
• Department：IOT

       In order to accelerate the application of drones in Taiwan’s field of transportation and promote industrial development, the “Miracle Pilot - MOTC Drone Promotion Result Presentation” was held by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) on October 7, 2021 (Thursday). Minister Wang Kwo-Tsai of MOTC arrived in person to present awards to the winning teams at “Creative Applications Competition of Unmanned Aerial Vechicles in the Transportation Sector” and the award-winning manufacturer teams participating in test validation in the “UAV Integrated Pilot Program”. At the same time, targeting the three plans promoted starting May 2020 to date, including the “Preliminary Research on the Development of Unmanned Aerial Vechicles Technology Industry”, the “Creative Applications Competition of Unmanned Aerial Vechicles in the Transportation Sector”, and the “UAV Integration Pilot Plan”, promoted by the drone technology industry team and the Institute of Transportation, MOTC, the domestic drone related industry-government-academia-research strengths have been effectively integrated. The applications of drones have also been actively introduced to transportation fields. Appreciation and encouraging words were provided for assistance in domestic drone industry development. At the result presentation, more than one hundred industry-government-academia-research representatives have been gathered, with great enthusiasm.

       In the “Preliminary Research on the Development of Unmanned Aerial Vechicles Technology Industry”, the domestic and foreign industry and policy developments have been checked. Through more than three interviews and six seminars, and after drone technology industry team advisory committee discussions, the drone development strategies and paths in the field of transportation in Taiwan have been amended. Taiwan’s drone U-Team related planning has also been completed, which is conductive for the development and promotion of the drone industry in the future.

         The “Creative Applications Competition of Unmanned Aerial Vechicles in the Transportation Sector” is divided into the creativity category and the application category. For the creativity category, the main purpose is to encourage students from universities and colleges in Taiwan to propose innovative drone design idea development. In addition, through cooperation and linking with the Drone Hackathon Competition held by the Southern Taiwan Science Park Bureau, MOST, outstanding competing teams will be given the opportunity to engage in hands-on design and concept development. At the same time, Aerospace Industrial Development Corp, National Chung-Shan Institute of Science & Technology, and the Metal Industries Research & Development Centre, domestic airlines, and experts from the field of drones were invited to serve as competition instructors. For the application category, government agencies, and public and private business institutions were invited to participate, and the respective agencies signed up enthusiastically. The application cases collected included: logistics and transportation, monitoring, inspections, data collection, policing, disaster relief, and other fields. The actual application of drones introduced, results, subsequent improvement, and other practices were shared to serve as examples for the respective agencies. The people responded enthusiastically to this competition, and nearly 100 teams signed up. After the selection, 19 winning teams were selected for the creative category, and six winning teams were selected for the application category.

       In the “UAV Integrated Pilot Program”, the transportation field under the MOTC was provided to drone proprietors to conduct onsite technical testing and verification. After summarizing and evaluating the business needs and fields of the agencies (institutions) under the MOTC, the bridges under the jurisdiction of the Directorate General of Highways, MOTC were selected for inspection. Moreover, the logistics and delivery of the Chunghwa Post Co., Ltd. were selected as the two main demonstration themes. For the bridge inspection part, a physical verification was completed for Provision Highway No. 3 Daxi Wuling Bridge on April 19~20, 2021. For the logistic and delivery part, a physical verification was completed from Donggang to Xiaoliuqiu on April 22, 2021. The selection of the two demonstration themes was completed on May 11 and May 13, 2021. Seven winning teams were selected for the bridge inspection; five winning teams were selected for the logistics and delivery.

        In recent years, substantive improvements in the performance of drones have been achieved, while the scope of applications has continued to be extended, from aerial photography, logistics and transportation, bridge or slope detection, to expansion into air cargo in the future, forming a whole new service model: Urban Air Mobility (UAM). In order to seize international drone development opportunities, the Institute of Transportation, MOTC will continue to promote drone programs to assist Taiwan in opening up the blue ocean of the drone industry and move towards the international arena, and seizing the huge business opportunities arising from global drones.

A Group photo of the Minister and the Innovative Application Competition (Creative Category) Award-winning team

The Minister and Director Lin of the Institute of Transportation, MOTC disclosing the match results

The Minister and Director Lin of the Institute of Transportation, MOTC witnessing R&D funds sponsored by the Metal Industries Research & Development Centre