VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) has developed an autonomous or driverless and environmentally friendly electric vehicle. BRIN makes electric vehicles semi-autonomous by using a remote driving mechanism or tele-operation. This vehicle can be used in restricted areas or special areas. Take for example, it can be used in tourism attractions, industry, and office areas as feeders.

Acting Head of the Center for Electric Power and Mechatronics, Haznan Abhimanyu explained that this car is a one-passenger vehicle. This vehicle is often referred to as a micro electric vehicle. Micro Electric Vehicle – Tele-operated Driving System (MEVi - TDS) is a term for electric vehicles that are built and driven remotely. This car has dimensions of 1,475 mm long, 990 mm wide and 1,470 mm high, weighing about 80 kg. BRIN equips this car with a lithium battery with a maximum usage of about 46 minutes with a maximum speed of 10.88 km per hour. Furthermore, the battery capacity will be increased, but the maximum speed will not be increased because the vehicle is driverless. MEVi - TDS is also equipped with six ultrasonic sensors as proximity sensors, IMU sensors to determine vehicle orientation, GPS to determine exact position and four cameras that function as vision.

By design, MEVi - TDS looks simple. It is equipped with four LED lights at the front, oval-shaped brake lights at the rear, and six LED lights forming a triangle as turn signals. At the top of the hood, an amber rotator lamp is added which will light up as an alarm in the event of a tele-operation malfunction. MEVo-TDS is expected to be the forerunner to the development of autonomous vehicles for larger passenger capacities, such as micro buses and medium and large buses.