Traffic research projects receive funding in excess of $10 million
In the latest policy address of the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong SAR, innovation and technology was highlighted as one of the six competitive industries that Hong Kong should strive to develop. The Hong Kong Government hopes these industries can help drive the territory’s development and boost the economy. The fact that a substantial amount of public and private funds were awarded to Dr Liao’s projects reflects the community’s recognition of CityU’s commitment to innovative technological research, and its achievements in regards to knowledge creation and transfer.
Dr Liao’s project on an advanced safety system for passenger and goods vehicles is intended to develop a system that can warn drivers of dangerous situations by sensing a vehicle’s acceleration and processing and analysing video and audio data. It can also perform automatic traffic accident reporting and vehicle tracking.
The project on intelligent transportation system with mobile vehicle technology applications will use the new Vehicle Infrastructure Integration (VII) technology to study and develop key technologies and applications for short range vehicle-to-vehicle communication such as sharing information about different routes to improve transportation efficiency.
The objective of the project on developing a technological platform for traffic information collection and integration is to provide a unified information platform for moving vehicles that require traffic information. Also, it will fulfil the needs of traffic information centres for the collection, integration and exchange of various traffic data.
These projects are expected to take 18 months to complete. “The launch of these projects was possible thanks to the support of the Innovation and Technology Commission and the industry in general. I hope the systems and technologies developed can be put into practical use by the industry,” said Dr Liao.
Dr Liao’s projects are also supported by other local and mainland organisations. The Transport Department of the Hong Kong SAR Government will provide the necessary traffic data for the studies, and the Guangdong Key Laboratory of Intelligent Transportation will take part in joint tests.