BSD City. Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi on Friday inaugurated the trial for Indonesia's first autonomous electric vehicle at Q-Big BSD City.

Digital technology is used to cater to smart city elements, including security, time efficiency, health, environmental quality, social relations, and public participation. The private sector has been putting its efforts to embed digital technology to leverage the quality of life, as well as to boost the social economy sector. This goes in parallel with the vision of G20, which will hold its summit later this year. Many countries are starting to use autonomous electric vehicles in order to go towards smart green cities. 

Property developer Sinar Mas Land, which transforms BSD City into an integrated smart digital city, presents this innovation together with Mitsubishi Corporation. The two companies have chosen the French autonomous electric vehicle Navya Arma to be operated at Q-Big BSD City and BSD Green Office Park.

Joining Budi Karya Sumadi in the trial inauguration was Bambang Susantono, the head of the National Capital Authority of Nusantara, and his deputy Dhony Rahajoe. Also presented at the event were the economics assistant at Banten government secretariat Muhammad Yusuf and Tangerang regent Ahmed Zaki Iskandar. 

Japanese Embassy charges d'affaires ad-interim Masami Tamura, Mitsubishi Corporation Jakarta Office head representative Takuji Konzo, and Sinar Mas Land group chief executive officer Michael Widjaja were also present at the ceremony.

Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi praised Sinar Mas Land for its efforts in developing digital and sustainable cities in the country. 

“I would like to thank Sinar Mas Land and Mitsubishi Corporation for having prepared this project which would be a great innovation for us. This autonomous electric vehicle offers a timely low-carbon mobility that can help reduce traffic congestion,” Budi said.

“I hope we can bring this technology to the G20 Summit so the world will see how Indonesia has a vision for the future and is making breakthroughs. We will continue to support BSD City as an innovation lab which will set an example for other developments and present a new paradigm that is in line with the president’s vision,” Budi said.

Sinar Mas Land group chief executive officer Michael Widjaja said, “as we go towards the smart city, Sinar Mas Land prepares BSD City to be agile in facing various alternative solutions for people’s lives in the future.”

“BSD City’s presence as a research and development center marks an important element in its transformation into an integrated smart digital city. Now that this township makes a testbed for the autonomous electric vehicle, we came closer to embody the futuristic city through this green mobility for the residents,” Michael added.

The Navya Autonom® Shuttle has an electric drive and battery pack with a capacity of 33 kWh that can last for 9 hours.

The electric vehicle is sized 4.7 meters x 2.1 meters with a passenger capacity of 15 people, 11 sitting and 4 standing. The Navya Autonom® Shuttle boasts a variety of sensors ranging from the use of GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite Systems), and LIDAR (Light Radar) sensors combined with a high-resolution camera for big data analysis, which will then be processed by a high specification computer embedded in each bus. 

These autonomous electric vehicles can detect, track and classify surrounding obstacles in real-time to determine the optimal trajectory and speed profile, including accelerating, steering, and braking autonomously.