Self-driving cars in Hong Kong? Trial run of 8 vehicles under way in HK$127 million push

The government had so far invested HK$60 million into driverless cars and another HK$67 million into technologies related to the internet of vehicles (IoV) under the Smart Traffic Fund, he said.

IoV refers to a network of connected autonomous vehicles that uses a cloud system to share location data and information on other objects in their surroundings, such as roadside units, pedestrians and buildings.

“The progress of the technological development can be said to be in line with that of mainland China and even other parts of the world,” Lam said.

He said eight autonomous vehicles were being put through their paces at five locations under the trial scheme.

The test sites put the vehicles on different types of roads and into a range of scenarios, with their locations including the Hong Kong Science Park, the offices of the Productivity Council, imported labour dormitories in Tam Mi and private housing estates.

Lam said residents of Yuen Long’s Fairview Park would be able to try out autonomous minibuses this month, with the housing estate falling under the government push to explore the applications of driverless technology.

“Earlier, the team and I from the Transport and Logistics Bureau were the first to take a ride on one of the 5G self-driving shuttle minibuses being tested in Fairview Park … I think the performance of automatic vehicles is quite good,” he said.

The minister said similar projects were likely to undergo testing in this year and next, including a trial run for an autonomous system operated by Hong Kong’s airport to transport commuters to and from the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge.

Lam said authorities had actively partnered various organisations to push for the wider use of driverless technology.

“I expect the public will have greater opportunities to take a ride on autonomous vehicles,” he said.

The government in March introduced a new regulatory regime that allows for wider, more flexible trials and the use of autonomous vehicles on roads, in a bid to boost public acceptance of driverless cars.

The new regulatory system aims to help the industry conduct more extensive and flexible testing of autonomous vehicles, and to also obtain operation and application data for more complex road conditions.

The minister earlier said such technology would help to prevent human driving errors and misconduct, while creating an opportunity for better assimilation of the city’s various traffic rules.

He pointed out that the driving systems in Hong Kong and the mainland differed in terms of left- and right-hand driving, as well as traffic regulations.

Lam also said autonomous vehicles could more seamlessly accommodate differences in rules and restrictions precisely because they did not require drivers, which could help spur cross-border traffic.