Unsung heroes on the road to fight pandemic

Stores were closed. Roads were sealed. In February, a fleet of five unmanned vans, quiet and orderly, fanned out across Shandong province's Zibo, a city on lockdown, delivering groceries to thousands of residents in 16 nearby villages stricken by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The vans, each able to carry up to 1,000 kilograms of goods at an average speed of 20 kph, were developed by Liu Ming, director of the Intelligent Autonomous Driving Center at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and his startup in Shenzhen.

"These autonomous driving vehicles not only guaranteed the local food supply, but also made sure few people got involved in the delivery process, to cut off transmission" of the disease, Liu told China Daily.

The major business of Liu's technology company, Shenzhen Unity Drive Innovation Technology, includes making low-speed autonomous driving vehicles and providing customers with efficient and intelligent logistics solutions.

Liu and three colleagues flew to Shandong from Shenzhen as soon as they received the Zibo government's urgent call after the COVID-19 outbreak hit the mainland. However, one challenge after another lay ahead of Liu.

The biggest obstacle was the cold winter weather. The team quickly got all the vehicles in place and set up all the systems, including data mapping, within two and a half days, but the products - designed and tested in South China's relatively warm Guangdong province - developed problems in the freezing temperature of Zibo, which is halfway between Shanghai and Beijing.

The lowest temperature of places that the vehicles were tested was around 10 C, while the average outdoor temperature in Zibo in February falls as low as -6 C. The vehicles also need to operate on snowy days. Monitors, batteries and sensors sometimes failed to function under such conditions.

Liu and his colleagues finally managed to solve the technical problems by heating the devices before using them, and by replacing some components with those that can operate in extreme weather conditions.

Liu said the experience in Shandong is a "good opportunity" for the team to improve their vehicles by trying them out in cold weather.

The same vehicles were also deployed in Pingshan district of Shenzhen. These vehicles delivered goods to hospitals, and meals to employees who were responsible for controlling crowds and assisting with measuring body temperature at temporary checkpoints. The autonomous vehicles made their rounds three times a day, every day, until the pandemic on the mainland was under control.

The public health crisis showed people the great potential of the autonomous driving industry, while the technology still has a long way to go before it can be widely applied to daily life, the computer scientist said.

Changing for the better

In October 2017, Liu and his research team at HKUST developed Hong Kong's first self-developed driverless vehicle, but they were forced to take their autonomous golf cart to Shenzhen for testing because of Hong Kong's strict regulations covering unmanned vehicles, including a ban on unmanned vehicles' loading passengers on the road, and some restrictions on road tests. Liu then set his sights on Shenzhen for his company.

In November 2019, an advisory committee on the application of autonomous vehicle technologies, comprising industry stakeholders and scientists, was established in Hong Kong.

Liu, a member of the committee, said it is considering guidelines and regulations to allow road tests of large unmanned vehicles and smaller robots.

He also revealed the Transport Department has permitted testing of an autonomous logistics vehicle that is mainly used to deliver experiment facilities along designated routes at HKUST's Clear Water Bay campus.

The testing, expected to start in early November, will see the vehicle run 500 kilometers on campus for two months.

Liu, a beneficiary of cross-boundary collaboration, said he has high hopes that Hong Kong will use its strengths in scientific research to work with Shenzhen to commercialize those research findings.