Transport Department Expands Autonomous Vehicle Trial Routes in North Lantau for Enhanced Testing and Data Collection.

Transport Department approves route expansion for pilot autonomous vehicles trial in North Lantau

The Transport Department (TD) announced today (April 30) that a pilot licence for autonomous vehicles (AVs) has been updated in accordance with section 20(3)(b) of the Road Traffic (Autonomous Vehicles) Regulation (Cap. 374AA) to expand the routes for the AV trial in North Lantau.

The applicant has been approved to conduct trials for 10 AVs at a specified time on specified road sections. The expanded routes cover Cheong Hing Road, Second Sky Street, Airport Expo Boulevard, Tung Yiu Road, Tung Fai Road, Kwo Lo Wan Road, Catering Road West, Catering Road East, Chun Wan Road Interchange, Chun Wan Road, Chun Yue Road, Chun Wan Road South, Chun Ping Road, Chek Lap Kok South Road, Airport South Interchange, Airport Road, Cheong Hong Road, Cheong Shun Road, Cheong Lin Road and South Perimeter Road. As for the road sections between Hong Kong International Airport Car Park 4 and Chek Lap Kok South Road approved earlier, the applicant has completed the open road tests without passengers and is proceeding with the trial with designated passengers.

A spokesman for the TD said that the applicant has been conducting AV road tests in North Lantau since December 2024. To date, the trial operation has been generally smooth as the AVs demonstrated stable performance when navigating and sharing different road scenarios with other vehicles, achieving highly automated driving (level 4 under international standards). This means the vehicles can continuously perform all dynamic driving tasks under specific operational conditions and automatically execute minimal risk strategies, a technical level comparable to that of the Mainland and other parts of the world. During the trial period, trained in-vehicle backup operators were stationed on the AVs to take over their control whenever necessary. From mid-February 2025, the number of AVs operating in each test increased from one to five, and is further increased to 10 under this updated licence, so that more useful data can be collected.

The TD's label for pilot AV shall be displayed on all pilot AVs for identification by other road users. Details of the pilot licence have been uploaded to the TD's website on AV trials.

The TD welcomes interested organisations or enterprises to submit applications and act in concert to promote the further development of autonomous driving in Hong Kong. Upon receipt of an application for a pilot licence, the TD will consider various factors including the design operating range and functions of the autonomous system submitted by the applicant, relevant international or national standards/guidelines, and the road test situations, based on the Code of Practice for Trial and Pilot Use of Autonomous Vehicles before approval. The TD will exercise stringent control with a view to promoting AV trials in Hong Kong in a safe and orderly manner.

Transport Department approves route expansion for pilot autonomous vehicles trial in North Lantau Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

Hospital Authority's statement regarding suspected incident of patient data being leaked on third-party platform

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

The spokesperson for the Hospital Authority (HA) made the following statement today (April 4) regarding the suspected incident of patient data being leaked on a third-party platform:

The HA's routine monitoring system detected at around 2am yesterday (April 3) a suspected case of patient data being taken without authorisation and leaked on a third-party platform. The HA promptly reported the matter to the Police and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data in the morning, and will fully co-operate with the Police investigation and actions.

The more than 56 000 patients involved in the incident are from the Kowloon East Cluster. The leaked data contains information including patients' names, gender, Hong Kong identity card numbers, hospital file numbers, and details of surgical procedures.

The HA sincerely apologises to the affected patients and will take all practicable measures to minimise the impact on patients. The HA will notify the affected patients via the "HA Go" mobile application, mail and phone calls as soon as possible. The Kowloon East Cluster has also set up a dedicated hotline at 5215 7326 for patient enquiries. The hotline operates Monday to Sunday from 9am to 6pm. Patients may also leave messages outside of hotline operating hours and staff will respond as soon as possible.

The HA takes cybersecurity very seriously, and has conducted a thorough review of its internal network systems upon discovering the incident, confirming that the systems are operating normally and securely, with no indication of a cyberattack or similar factors. The HA immediately suspended the contractor's system maintenance work.

The HA has been continuously implementing various measures to strengthen its healthcare systems, including ongoing enhancements to cybersecurity safeguards, user security awareness, cybersecurity of critical infrastructure, as well as network monitoring and incident response capabilities. The HA will also collaborate with law enforcement agencies and cybersecurity organisations to enhance cybersecurity, so as to ensure appropriate protection of hospital operations, patient services, and personal data security. The HA also urges affected patients to remain vigilant and be alert to whether their personal data may be used for other purposes, take steps to protect their personal data such as changing passwords, and seek police assistance if necessary.

Source: AI-found images