The Hsinchu City Government is actively advancing Mayor Kao Hung-An’s municipal vision of “smooth traffic” and “smart governance,” continuing to promote smart transportation infrastructure. On January 2, the city held a press conference titled “Smart Parking Pillars Surpass 2,400 Spaces,” officially announcing that Hsinchu City has reached an important phased milestone in smart parking development. As of the end of last year (2025), the city had completed the installation of 2,400 smart parking pillars. This achievement has significantly enhanced parking management efficiency and has met the original policy target set ahead of schedule for this year (2026), demonstrating the city government’s clear policy direction and tangible implementation results.
Mayor Kao stated that smart parking pillars are one of the key foundational infrastructures in Hsinchu City’s push toward smart city governance, and a critical area where smart governance delivers high impact. By introducing smart parking pillars, the city can not only effectively increase the turnover rate of parking spaces and reduce the workload of manual ticketing and manpower, but also handle different usage situations, such as short-term parking for loading and unloading and parent pick-up and drop-off around schools, while maintaining traffic order and public safety. During the initial rollout, the city carefully assessed public acceptance and potential impacts. However, pilot deployments in areas such as school surroundings received positive feedback from teachers, students, and local communities, indicating that smart facilities can intuitively enhance citizens’ perception of a smart city.
 
Mayor Kao further explained that the core objective of implementing smart parking pillars is to address long-standing challenges, including shortages in parking management personnel, recruitment difficulties for parking attendants, and the vulnerability of traditional manual ticketing to weather conditions. The city government has fully adopted AI-based license plate recognition technology with an accuracy rate of up to 99.9%, substantially improving the timeliness and precision of parking management.