The European Chamber of Commerce Taiwan (ECCT) today co-organised the EU-Taiwan Advanced Vehicle Safety Technologies Forum together with the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MoTC), the Vehicle Safety Certification Center, the European Economic and Trade Office (EETO) and the German Trade Office Taipei (GTO). The forum brought together technical experts and government officials from Taiwan and Europe to share state-of-the-art vehicle technologies and best regulatory practices aimed at improving vehicle and traffic safety in Taiwan. Opening remarks were made by ECCT Chairman Bernd Barkey, MoTC Administrative Deputy Minister FAN Chih-Ku, EETO Head Madeleine Majorenko and GTO Director Andreas Hergenrother.

The forum examined key trends and innovations in the rapidly-evolving automotive industry that is shifting from semi-autonomous vehicle features to an era of completely autonomous vehicles. The forum featured six sessions on the following topics: 1) Autonomous driving; 2) Road safety enhancement in Taiwan; 3) Vehicle safety regulations in Taiwan; 4) Safe-driving technologies; 5) Motorcycle safety technologies & regulations and 6) Safe-driving technologies in Taiwan. The forum was concluded with a VIP dinner, which was attended the guests of honour, speakers and members of the ECCT's Automotive committee.

Speakers from ECCT member companies Mercedes Benz, Audi, Bosch and Ford gave presentations covering a number of subjects. They included the latest developments in Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), including lane assist and parking assist features, accident research on anti-lock braking systems (ABS) to improve motorcycle safety, emergency call (e-call) features, addressing the needs of aging populations and technologies to help distracted or drowsy drivers. The speakers were Dr Stefan Greiner, Director, Chassis Development, Audi China; Dr Bernhard Morys, R&D, Daimler Greater China, Mercedes-Benz; Thomas Lich, Senior Expert and Project Manager, Bosch Accident Research, Bosch Corporate Research, Germany; Wilko-Gordon Block, Head of Department, Strategic Marketing & Communication, Two-Wheeler & Powersports Division, Bosch Corporation Japan and Pete Hardigan, Director of Sustainability, Environment & Safety Engineering, Asia Pacific, Ford Motor Company.

Speakers representing European authorities gave presentations on current and projected European regulations related to the automotive sector. They were Casto López Benítez, Policy Officer, Road Safety Unit, Directorate General for Mobility & Transport, European Commission and Jan Michael Schüngeler, Assistant Head, Intelligent Transport Systems and Automated Driving Division, Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, Germany.

Speakers representing the Taiwan government or institutions gave an overview of the current regulatory and testing environment in Taiwan. They were Dr Chou Ja-ching, Senior Transportation Analyst, Information System Division, Institute of Transportation, MoTC; Simon Hsu, Director, Vehicle Safety Certification Center and Weber Lee, Manager, Automotive Research & Testing Center.