A cooperative memorandum of understanding has been signed between NARLabs’ Taiwan CAR Lab and TÜV Rheinland Taiwan, who will look to align their work with cutting-edge international trends in autonomous vehicle development. TÜV Rheinland are to provide their assistance in setting safety standards and verification programs for autonomous vehicles in the CAR Lab’s closed field test facilities with a view to granting their laboratory certification. This collaboration will allow tests conducted in this lab to meet international standards and for broad public trust to be won over.
The development of autonomous vehicles is a global trend that cannot be ignored, especially as during the serious disruption caused by COVID-19 a number of nations have used this technology to deliver food and medical supplies between designated destinations, minimizing the risk of infection through human-to-human contact. Although the virus has placed immense pressure on numerous industries, it has been a catalyst for the application of autonomous driving technology. However, current legal frameworks are unable to support these transportation devices of the future. As such, various nations are making preparations for the arrival of the age of autonomous driving, putting new laws in place step-by-step, striving to create cities of the future.
This is the very reason for the collaboration between Taiwan CAR Lab and TÜV Rheinland, as both organizations will play to their strong suits in becoming a major competitor in connected cars, autonomous drive testing and certification. In accordance with forward-looking national autonomous vehicle policy plans and in keeping with the strategic structure of the two organizations’ agreement, the lab’s closed field test facilities in Tainan are to be used as the testing environment for their work. Producers of autonomous vehicles, car parts and automotive electronics are able to conduct real tests for mixed traffic patterns in this facility. At the same time, TÜV Rheinland is preparing the Taiwan CAR Lab to connect with partners across the globe. Both have concentrated their resources and capabilities to further their collaboration in R&D verification testing for automobiles and parts, coordinating market development to expand their operations past vehicle certification tests and on to certification all along the supply chain. In addition, the partners will share their testing resources and explore new developmental possibilities.
Acting NARLabs president Kuang-Chong Wu remarked that via the collaboration with TÜV Rheinland, international autonomous drive testing standards will be introduced along with an internationally certified laboratory environment. This will aid outstanding domestic developments in autonomous vehicles, car parts, automotive electronics and ICT in obtaining globally trusted product certification, accelerating their entry to international supply chains and boosting their competitiveness.
TÜV Rheinland stated that most operational autonomous vehicles are primarily being used for short distance journeys between set points in enclosed areas, such as airports and ports. In the future, as the internet of vehicles matures and the majority of cars come to possess networking capabilities, cars will act much like transportational mobile phones. Before hitting the road, autonomous vehicles must pass a series of tests and, in order to meet safety standards, need to be designed with three key aspects in mind: driving environment, functional and network safety. As a global leader in technical services with over 100 years of experience in automobile certification testing, TÜV Rheinland has always been at the forefront of technological advancement. In terms of intelligent transport systems, they are able to provide testing and certification for automotive functional safety, information security, automobiles, parts and automotive wireless communication, as well as domestic and international autonomous vehicle safety assessment, autonomous vehicle site safety assessment and independent intelligent transport certification.
