NTU-UIUC forum on smart mobility, autonomous and connected vehicles a success

A special relationship decades in the making between the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and National Taiwan University continues to accelerate the transition to an autonomous world, most recently with a successful workshop in Southeast Asia.

Top scientists from both universities met in September to discuss smart and connected mobility at the 2018 NTU-UIUC Forum on Smart Mobility, Autonomous and Connected Vehicles.

Building on the foundation of the two previous global forums— hosted at NTU in 2014 and UIUC in 2017— the focus of collaboration honed in on autonomous and connected vehicles. UIUC’s Smart Transportation Infrastructure Initiative (STII) and NTU held the forum to exchange expertise and knowledge in various areas of advanced transportation, including smart mobility, robotics, data mining, vehicle-human interaction, transportation logistics, platooning, and other transportation cutting-edge research as well as challenging and pressing issues.

The two-day event, which took place in Taipei City, Taiwan, featured lectures from nine distinguished professors from various College of Engineering departments at UIUC. Participants included Geir Dullerud, Naira Hovakimyan, Alex Kirlik, Cedric Langbort, Srinivasa Salapaka, Richard Sowers, Sheldon Jacobson, Yanfeng Ouyang, and Imad Al-Qadi as well as several high-ranking NTU professors. Workshop participants were also treated to a tour of the NTU campus and labs.

The participants were greeted by Professors Ta-Te Lin, NTU Executive Vice President for University Affairs, and Al-Qadi, STII Director, who also delivered a talk on behalf of Reitumetse Obakeng Mabokela, UIUC Vice Provost for International Affairs and Global Strategies.

“UIUC is proud of the dozens of NTU faculty who hold advanced degrees from

Illinois. Our team was very impressed with the quality of research being conducted at NTU, the caliber of their faculty, and the advanced lab available for their research,” Al-Qadi said.

“We had a great visit and very engaging discussions,” UIUC Mechanical Engineering Professor Naira Hovakimyan said. “NTU welcomed us very well, and the productive meetings generated lots of new ideas for collaborative work.”

The visit to NTU fell on Hovakimyan’s birthday, which they celebrated on the 86th floor of a Taiwanese restaurant. “They brought her a very nice cake,” Al-Qadi said. “It was fancy! And very thoughtful.”