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5G
TechInnovation

How Hong Kong’s smart mobility ambitions will be boosted by 5G roll-out

  • Hong Kong’s ASTRI, whose mission is to enhance the city’s hi-tech competitiveness, is working on 5G applications to boost the autonomous vehicle experience
  • Widespread 5G service coverage is expected to drive the roll-out of various smart mobility initiatives

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The smart mobility segment of Hong Kong’s smart city initiative includes the development of an intelligent transport system. Illustration: Dennis Wong
Iris DengandBien Perez
Looking back in time, you can pinpoint when something significant in tech started – from the smartphone age, when Steve Jobs unveiled Apple’s first iPhone in the US, to the world’s biggest shopping day, when Jack Ma led Alibaba Group Holding’s launch of its Singles’ Day promotion in China.
Hong Kong’s bid to become a world-class smart city was kick-started with the public unveiling of its five-year blueprint on December 15, 2017. A recent interview with executives of the Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI) put that government programme into perspective, as it relates to the potential of smart mobility and the role of 5G mobile technology.

“We’re enabling some Hong Kong-based 5G applications to enhance the autonomous vehicle experience,” said Eric Tsang, chief technologist of baseband solutions at ASTRI. “Our technologies are ready, but there’s a lot of trial and error [in our collaborations with industry players].”

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The latest initiatives by ASTRI, whose mission is to enhance Hong Kong’s hi-tech competitiveness through applied research, come at a complex period of political and economic turmoil, amid continuing anti-government protests and ongoing efforts to get the coronavirus pandemic under control.
Hong Kong’s coronavirus-ravaged economy suffered its worst decline on record, shrinking 8.9 per cent year on year in the March quarter. Photo: Robert Ng
Hong Kong’s coronavirus-ravaged economy suffered its worst decline on record, shrinking 8.9 per cent year on year in the March quarter. Photo: Robert Ng
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Compared with mainland China, which has been investing billions of dollars since last year to build the infrastructure that will foster the world’s largest 5G market, the commercial roll-out of 5G services by Hong Kong’s four mobile network operators only started early this second quarter.

Network trials for various 5G applications in the city – with a population of more than 7 million in a land area of 1,100 sq km – have also been smaller in scale.

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