Exploring Policy Interventions to Support the Introduction of Autonomous Vehicles in Indonesia

This paper aims to analyze policy interventions regarding the implementation of autonomous vehicles (AV) in Indonesia. The research takes place in Jakarta due to its unique characteristics and status as one of the most congested cities in the world. The paper employs the qualitative approach to understand policy intervention for AV implementation. The methods used in this research are the combination of Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and Semi-Structured Interview. This research elaborates that AV implementation in Indonesia should come in the form of AV buses in the initial stage. Thus, it is necessary in the context of AV buses to construct dedicated lanes, provide onboard stewards, and give government incentives in a way that ensures the adoption's success rate. Furthermore, the thematic analysis of the research also emphasizes several themes in the context of AV implementation, such as implementation, accessibility, regulatory framework, sustainability, local characteristics, and annotation. These themes could provide a comprehensive understanding related to the policy intervention that should be taken by the Indonesian government regarding the AV implementation in Indonesia.


INTRODUCTION
According to data released by the Indonesian National Traffic Police, human error is often considered the most likely cause of traffic accidents, with Indonesia leading the ASEAN region in this regard (INTP, 2019;Radam et al., 2022).This alarming trend underscores the urgent need for innovative solutions to improve road safety.Concurrently, Jakarta, the capital city, has been grappling with severe air pollution, ranking among the world's most polluted cities since May 2023 due to chronic traffic congestions (Reuters 2023).The confluence of high accident rates and severe pollution necessitates systemic interventions to address these intertwined challenges.Europe and the United States, thus creating a gap of understanding in different socioeconomic and cultural contexts (Carrone et al., 2021, Kapser et al., 2021).In an attempt to understand about socioeconomic and cultural contexts of AV implementation, it is crucial to experiment with relevant policies in Indonesia.
Past literature has undressed the dynamics of AV implementation, which consists of several factors, such as public perception, technological infrastructure, and the readiness of regulatory framework.The studies of Bosch et al., (2018) and Wadud and Mattioli (2021) have emphasized the necessity of incentives to improve the AV adoption in Europe and the United States.However, the unique socio-economic variables of Jakarta and its driver behavior which could pose a hindrance in implementing AV policy are not covered specifically in these studies.In addition, the study of Aarhaug and Olsen (2018) explains the need to adapt regulations in the dawn of emerging technologies, in which their findings primarily draw on the case of more developed regions, leaving a gap in the applicability of AV implementation for developing countries, such as Indonesia.
The pursuit of AV implementation requires an understanding of the factors that underpin policy implementation.These factors, which include local conditions, traffic patterns, the regulatory environment, and public attitudes toward new technologies, are classified in a comprehensive policy framework.These aspects, when properly combined, have the potential to improve AV implementation in Indonesia.By examining the Indonesia's early AV implementation policy from the viewpoint of experts and policymakers, this study seeks to comprehend and close the gaps.This study will attempt to provide comprehensive insight into the adoption of AVs in Indonesia by employing the qualitative approach.In addition, the choice of nation.which is Indonesia might address the issues that cannot be resolved in a Western setting.
This study aims to identify the obstacles that the implementation of autonomous vehicles in Indonesia presents.Since there is still no academic literature suggesting that Indonesia and other emerging economy countries should implement the AVs, this research could prove its significance in the academic literature on AV implementation.Thus, this research might help the implementation of AVs which in the long run might reduce the number of casualties in road accidents thus creating a safer transportation means in Indonesia.Furthermore, the AV implementation could reduce the pollution created by fuel vehicle transportation, thus increasing the public health level in Indonesia.
This claim is supported by research by Mayastinasari & Lufpi (2022), which shows that technology implementation plays a significant role in enhancing road safety measures.For instance, the gathered from focus group discussions (FGDs) and semi-structured interviews.This combination allows a better triangulation, furthermore enhancing the reliability and validity of the results (Braun and Clarke, 2021).
The following paragraph is an explanation of the steps involved in the research procedure.
Firstly, the authors conduct a focus group discussion with a group of experts which are selected based on their capabilities in the field of transport and policy making, the selection of the experts is based on the PESTLE framework (Political, Economic, Social, Technical, and Environmental).The PESTLE framework is prominent in ensuring a diverse source of argument from different experts in transport and policy-making fields (Tagesse et al., 2024).Due to the geographical boundaries, the FGDs are done by using virtual meeting platforms, such as Ms. Teams, Zooms, and Miro Board.
The FGDs are conducted with several topics including the SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunities, and threats) analysis of AV implementation in Indonesia, the challenges of public, private, and shared transportation in AVs, and lastly, the early-stage steps which should be taken to address the AV implementation in Indonesia.The selection of topics is based on the aims of the study which is to elaborate the policy intervention that is needed in employing AV in Indonesia.After conducting FGDs, the next step is gathering answers from the experts and policymakers in the form of semi-structured interviews.The use of semi-structured interviews is prominent to further elaborate and produce relevant data which could be triangulated in the analysis to gain an depth analysis regarding the policy intervention to implement AV in Indonesia.
The results of the FGDs and interviews are recorded with the permission of the participants.
The recording is further transformed into a dataset using the help of NVivo, and then systematically constructed by using thematic analysis.The use of thematic analysis to construct the result of this research is prominent to gain an understanding by making several recurring themes, patterns, and narration (Braun and Clarke, 2021).Regarding the AV implementation in Indonesia, the ethical approval of this study was gained from the relevant institutional review board to ensure the ethics protocols are followed in this research.The participants were informed regarding the purpose and 167 aims of the study.Moreover, their rights were also told before the process of FGDs and interviews.
This step ensures the confidentiality and anonymity of the research.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Figure 3. Measures to Support Automated Buses Deployment in Jakarta This section provides the results and discussions regarding the research that has been conducted using FGDs and interviews with Indonesian experts and policymakers in the field of transportation.The results are then classified into six sub-themes which consist of implementation, accessibility, regulatory framework, sustainability, local characteristics, and annotation.These subthemes are generated using thematic analysis which triangulates the data extracted from the FGDs and interviews.Furthermore, each of the sub-themes will be elaborated in the paragraph as follows:

Implementation
According to the FGDs and interviews with experts and policymakers in Indonesia, it can be understood that the early application of AVs in Indonesia should be done in the form of AV buses.
These results align with the statement of Fonzone et al. (2023) and Iclodean et al. (2020) which stated that autonomous buses are preferred for the initial implementation of autonomous vehicles.The use of AV buses will be a relevant solution in the implementation of AVs in Indonesia.However, two factors need to be addressed in implementing AV buses in Indonesia.The first is the construction of dedicated lanes, and the second is the presence of human stewards or stewardesses inside the AV buses.These two factors are highly important.The use of dedicated lanes is important for a reason: one of the reasons is that dedicated lanes will set boundaries between traditional vehicles and autonomous vehicles (AVs) because a combination of autonomous buses and non-autonomous vehicles on an open road may increase the likelihood of accidents and congestion (Loder et al., 2019).
Furthermore, a dedicated lane will also decrease the likelihood of road accidents, because it could gatekeep the AV buses from the erratic behavior of Indonesian drivers.In addition, the use of dedicated lane will increase the efficiency of AV buses.These statements regarding the importance of dedicated lanes are implied by the experts as "dedicated lanes are needed to ensure AV buses could operate safely and efficiently given the characteristics of the traffic environment, including driving behaviors in Jakarta" (FGD-4, 2024).
The next factor is the presence of a steward or stewardess inside the AV buses.The steward could become a human bridge that connects the traditional means of transportation, such as the manual vehicle with an autonomous vehicle.This statement aligns with the results of the FGD which connotes that "a steward could help bridge the gap between traditional and autonomous system; provide reassurance to passengers; and address pressing issues inside the AV buses" (INT-3, 2024).
Furthermore, the presence of a steward will ensure the regulations inside the bus are properly implied by the passengers, thus increasing the security of the AV buses (FGD-1, 2024).

Accessibility
Theme focuses on emphasizing the efforts to increase the access of AV buses to all roads in Jakarta, and encourage the use of AV buses compared to private vehicles.From the FGDs and interviews, both experts and policymakers agree that to increase the use of AV buses certain policies include giving incentives in the form of ticket discounts, tax benefits, and subsidies for the AV bus providers.This statement is further elaborated as "incentives for AV bus users and disincentives for private vehicle users are predicted to be very effective in changing public transport preferences" (INT-2, 2024).
Giving incentives is arguably profound and efficient in increasing the number of passengers, this could happen by making the economic rational choice much easier for people (FGD-2, 2024).Aside from giving incentives, it is also a proponent of public awareness campaigns about the benefits of AV buses.The campaign's importance is described as "Public campaigns should focus on the tangible benefits of AV buses, such as increased safety and reduced emissions.This will help in garnering public support and acceptance," (FGD-2, 2024).
Experts and policymakers believe that including the narration of EVs inside school curriculum will play a bigger factor in increasing the awareness of EV importance in reducing congestion and air pollution.These findings are aligned with the research of Bösch et al. (2018) and Wadud and Mattioli (2021).Furthermore, the example from cities like Los Angeles and London

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.Estimated number of traffic accident casualties in ASEAN in 2019, by country (in 1,000s)