The Legislative Yuan yesterday passed the Act for Uncrewed Vehicle Technology Innovations and Experiments (無人載具創新實驗條例), which exempts developers from certain legal restrictions when testing uncrewed vehicles for a prescribed period of time.
The act defines uncrewed vehicles as land vehicles, aircraft and ships — or any combination thereof — that are remotely controlled or capable of autonomous operations by surveying their surroundings, determining their position and determining the best route.
The law is based on the concept of a regulatory sandbox first incorporated in the Financial Technology Development and Innovative Experimentation Act (金融科技發展創新實驗條例), which was passed in December last year and allows financial technology firms to completely or partially bypass financial regulations when testing innovative financial services, said the Ministry of Economic Affairs, which governs autonomous vehicles.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
The act allows successful applicants to circumvent a plethora of mostly traffic laws when field testing uncrewed vehicles at locations designated by the ministry. These include items in the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例), the Highway Act (公路法), the Civil Aviation Act (民用航空法) and the Ships Act (船舶法).
Monitoring staff should have full control over any uncrewed vehicle by way of unobstructed two-way communications using an automated system, the act stipulates.
In the event that applicants need to set up, manufacture or import telecommunications devices to test uncrewed vehicles, they can expedite the process by notifying the National Communications Commission without having to pass a review, the act says.
However, no uncrewed vehicle tests or experiments shall breach the Money Laundering Control Act (洗錢防制法) or the Counter-Terrorism Financing Act (資恐防制法), and applicants must shoulder any legal liabilities under the Civil Code or the Criminal Code as a result of their tests, it says.
Tests or experiments with uncrewed vehicles should not exceed one year and can be extended once by no more than a year after obtaining approval from the ministry, the act says.
The ministry should publish an overview of approved projects that includes their permitted scope, their time frame and the laws they are exempted from on its Web site and must inspect the testing location if necessary, it says.
It must order an applicant to make the necessary improvements should any test or experiment exceed the approved scope, affect public transportation, pollute the environment, threaten participants’ safety, or compromise national or social security, and it can terminate a project if an applicant fails to comply within a prescribed period.
Should an accident occur during testing, the applicant should immediately stop tests, inform the ministry and issue any necessary compensation to those affected, the act says, adding that testing should only resume after adequate measures are adopted to ensure safety.
Democratic Progressive Party caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said that the act makes Taiwan the first nation to create a regulatory sandbox to aid research and development of uncrewed vehicles.
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday that it is looking to hire 8,000 people this year, at a time when the tech giant is expanding production capacity to maintain its lead over competitors. To attract talent, TSMC would launch a large-scale recruitment campaign on campuses across Taiwan, where a newly recruited engineer with a master’s degree could expect to receive an average salary of NT$2.2 million (US$60,912), which is much higher than the 2023 national average of NT$709,000 for those in the same category, according to government statistics. TSMC, which accounted for more than 60 percent
Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢), a Taiwanese businessman and deputy convener of the nation’s National Climate Change Committee, said yesterday that “electrical power is national power” and nuclear energy is “very important to Taiwan.” Tung made the remarks, suggesting that his views do not align with the country’s current official policy of phasing out nuclear energy, at a forum organized by the Taiwan People’s Party titled “Challenges and Prospects of Taiwan’s AI Industry and Energy Policy.” “Taiwan is currently pursuing industries with high added- value and is developing vigorously, and this all requires electricity,” said the chairman
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
RSS