Jakarta. British road inspection technology SmartVision is seeking to penetrate into the Indonesian market, although the brand is still working on cementing its presence in the UK.

The UK government on Monday brought eight UK artificial intelligence (AI) organizations to Jakarta on a mission to connect them with the Indonesian government and industry, among others. SmartVision, a computer vision technology created by UK-based software developer Metricell, was one of the companies that joined the Jakarta trip.

SmartVision’s technology collects and analyzes road defects and assets, including potholes and crackings. Users only need to install the Road Surveyor app on smartphones and mount their handsets on the rearview mirror. The collected data will get sent to the SmartVision platform to identify the road defects, making it easier for local authorities and tollway operators to conduct road maintenance.

SmartVision today has been in talks with several local councils in the UK. However, the company is already eyeing Indonesia as a market they wish to expand to later on. According to Izmi Ibrahim, the general manager for the APAC region at Metricell, SmartVision plans on focusing on trunk roads --major roads used long-distance travels-- in Indonesia’s remote areas when that expansion takes place.

“Highways are basically newly built in Indonesia so the roads are in okay condition at the moment. So we probably want to focus on trunk roads that lie outside the city area or the remote areas. … We assume [those trunk roads] are less-maintained because you would have to go out there [to inspect the road conditions],” Ibrahim said in an exclusive interview with the Jakarta Globe in Jakarta on Monday.

SmartVision sees potential in deploying its road inspection tech in Nusantara, Indonesia’s new capital city that is currently under construction.

“Definitely. [Nusantara] is a new big area, which will be crucial to Indonesia later on,” Ibrahim said.

When asked by the Globe about the price, Ibrahim said that it was “very affordable". He added: "The money that you need to spend [on SmartVision] is not as large as the costs for big machines that you usually use to scan the roads."

During their Jakarta visit, SmartVision along with the other UK delegates will meet government and business representatives in Indonesia, including ride-hailing giant Grab as well as the Communications and Informatics Ministry. 

According to the Indonesia Toll Road Authority (BPJT) earlier this month, Indonesia already has 71 toll roads across Java, Sumatra, Sulawesi, Bali, and Kalimantan. These toll roads span 2,760 kilometers. Data shows 59 toll road business entities are managing these tollways.

The National Statistics Agency (BPS) reported that 16.01 percent of Indonesia's roads were damaged as of 2021. As many as 15.9 percent of the roads across the archipelago suffered from severe damage.

Read More: UK Keeps Eye on Smart City Nusantara: British Envoy

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