Jokowi wants the new capital's road to filled with autonomous cars. (Image via Merdeka.com)

Jokowi dreams of driverless transportation for the new capital

President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo (Jokowi), stated his wish to build the new capital with a modern, sophisticated, yet green transportation system. The President was referring to the autonomous vehicles. Speaking on Wednesday, he aimed that the residents of the new capital will start riding on electric cars and autonomous vehicles to cut costs.

Previously, the former Governor of Jakarta had set the locations for the new capital of Indonesia: Samboja, North Penajam Paser, Sepaku Semoi, and Kutai Kartanegara regencies, East Kalimantan.

Minister of Public Housing and the head of the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas), Suharso Monoarfa, stated that he would give his best to realize the dream of the President.

Currently, each ministry is reviewing the implementation of electric car and autonomous vehicles law in some countries as an example for Indonesia’s future infrastructure. Regarding the exact detail, Suharso could not give any.

While being unable to explain the scheme of the development of the said transportation system, Suharso said that some parties are willing to help Indonesia realize the objective. One of the “willing parties” is SoftBank from Japan. However, the interest has not been poured into a commitment yet. SoftBank wants to supply autonomous vehicles.

On the other hand, Suharso said that the Indonesian government wants to see how the funding matches the transportation system development plan, whether the development will have to be allocated to the State Budget or not.

Source: https://bit.ly/2uTxfOK