Legislator Ge Rujun: Taiwan's autonomous driving regulations are 40 years behind the world! We should issue "AI coins" similar to cultural coins.

Legislator Ge Rujun on the 12th at the Legislative Yuan directly displayed a “Black Diamond” mobile phone from the 1980s during questioning, criticizing Taiwan’s autonomous driving regulations for being nearly 40 years behind, making Taiwanese people “see AI but can’t use AI,” and demanded that the Executive Yuan research an international certification dual-track system within one month and propose a “AI Coin” plan similar to the Cultural Coin within two months; Premier Zhuo Rongtai immediately promised to instruct the Ministry of Transportation and Communications to cooperate, and to respond on the AI Coin direction within two months.
(Background summary: Legislator Ge Rujun proposed “VASP tax incentives”! Zhuo Rongtai promised to submit a Bitcoin ETF report within three months)
(Additional background: Ministry of Education “Libraries Have AI”: Free use of ChatGPT, Claude with library card, promoted across 47 national universities nationwide)

Table of Contents

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• Key Summary
• Regulations from 1988 until 2032
• AI Data Law delayed 194 days, calls for AI Coin
• Frequently Asked Questions

Key Summary

• Taiwan’s UNECE R79 vehicle regulation passed in 1988 will only be fully implemented in 2025, and Level 3 autonomous driving regulations will be operational by 2031 at the earliest
• Ge Rujun requests to research recognition of Dutch RDW certification and a dual-track system with US FMVSS within one month; Zhuo Rongtai promises cooperation from the Ministry of Transportation
• Propose an “AI Coin” subsidy model similar to Cultural Coin to encourage public use of paid AI tools; Executive Yuan commits to submitting a plan within two months

Taiwan develops the most advanced AI chips for the world, yet its own people have to wait until 2032 for Level 2 driver assistance? On the 12th, during a general questioning at the Legislative Yuan, legislator Ge Rujun took out a 1980s Black Diamond mobile phone and shouted at Premier Zhuo Rongtai. If the government mandated that everyone could only use Black Diamond phones and not iPhones, society would find it absurd, but Taiwan’s vehicle regulations are playing out the same scene.

Regulations from 1988 until 2032

Ge Rujun pointed out that the UNECE R79 vehicle regulation passed in 1988 will not be fully enforced in Taiwan until 2025, leaving a nearly 40-year-old standard still restricting the use of the latest traffic technology. Even more absurd is that the regulation for Level 2 driver assistance systems, R171, is only scheduled for full enforcement in 2032, and the regulation for Level 3 autonomous driving, R157, may have to wait until 2031.

Ge Rujun: “Taiwan can’t produce AI chips for the whole world but keeps its own people locked out of the tech world by outdated regulations.”

He made two specific requests: first, to research recognition of the Dutch RDW certification for autonomous driving systems, leveraging Taiwan’s Vehicle Safety Certification Center (VSCC) and RDW’s long-term cooperation to accelerate international integration. Second, to establish a dual-track system for self-certification of European and US FMVSS standards, allowing safe new technologies to come to market faster while retaining government authority for sampling, recalls, and penalties.

Zhuo Rongtai immediately promised that the Ministry of Transportation would present research results within one month.

AI Data Law delayed 194 days, calls for AI Coin

On sovereignty AI issues, Ge Rujun criticized that the Ministry of Digital Development’s announcement last year of the “Regulations to Promote Data Innovation and Utilization” has been delayed 194 days and still hasn’t been submitted to the Legislative Yuan. Of the 34 articles in the draft, 18 are full of “may” — “the government may encourage,” “agencies may establish,” he sarcastically said it might as well be “mild encouragement.”

Because AI training with local characteristics relies heavily on local language data, but Taiwan’s traditional Chinese data governance is severely lacking, directly impacting large language models’ understanding of Taiwan-specific contexts. If the government doesn’t show a proactive attitude, sovereignty AI remains just talk.

Regarding AI equality, he pointed out that the features of free and paid AI tools differ significantly. Without government intervention, this will only deepen educational and urban-rural disparities. Thanks to Ge Rujun’s efforts, the Ministry of Education has approved the “Libraries Have AI” policy, which will provide paid AI services like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini at national libraries starting this quarter. He further demanded that the Executive Yuan introduce an “AI Coin” or “Digital Development Coin” similar to Cultural Coin, with a formal plan within two months. Zhuo Rongtai responded that the government will research integration of payment directions within two months.

Finally, Ge Rujun also called for support for amending Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act to allow foreign low-earth orbit satellite communication service providers to operate in Taiwan, strengthening disaster prevention, rural, and national security communication resilience.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the dual-track autonomous driving regulation proposed by Ge Rujun?

European (UNECE) and US (FMVSS) self-certification systems run in parallel, with the government retaining authority for sampling, recalls, and penalties, allowing self-driving cars certified by international bodies like Dutch RDW to come to market faster in Taiwan without re-testing from scratch.

What is AI Coin, and when will it be launched?

Modeled after Cultural Coin, the government subsidizes the public to use paid AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude. The Executive Yuan promises to submit a formal plan for integrated payment within July 2026, but the exact distribution schedule has not yet been confirmed.