PM Rides Teen Inventor’s Smart Car in Dhaka

Prime Minister Tarique Rahman on Saturday rode in a smart car developed by a college student, praising the young innovator’s creativity and encouraging further advancement of locally made technology.

The student inventor, 17-year-old Wakimul Islam, who is a specially-abled youth, met the Prime Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office in Tejgaon, where he demonstrated the compact battery-powered vehicle he had designed and built himself.

During the meeting, Wakimul drove the vehicle with the Prime Minister seated beside him, showcasing its features and performance. The vehicle, named “A2I Smart Car,” was created with the aim of helping people with mobility challenges move independently and comfortably.

Officials said the Prime Minister highly appreciated the teenager’s efforts and commended him for using domestic technology and innovation to create a practical transport solution. He also advised the young inventor to continue improving the design to make it more modern, affordable and user-friendly for a wider range of people.

The Prime Minister assured support for such creative and technology-driven initiatives, saying young innovators should be encouraged to develop solutions that can benefit society.

Speaking during the meeting, Wakimul shared the story behind his invention and said that because of his physical condition, he once spent most of his time confined indoors and found it difficult to move around independently. That personal struggle inspired him to design a vehicle that would allow him and others like him to travel more freely.

Wakimul is currently a science student in the eleventh grade at Chougacha Government College. His father is a small businessman. Despite limited resources, the teenager managed to build the smart vehicle through determination and self-learning.

He expressed hope that with institutional support and access to advanced technology, he would be able to develop more sophisticated versions of the smart car in the future. According to him, the vehicle could also become useful for elderly people and others with limited mobility.

Abdus Sattar Dulal, founder and executive director of the Bangladesh Protibondhi Kallyan Somity, accompanied Wakimul during the meeting. He said the electric vehicle can travel up to 50 kilometres on a single charge and has a top speed of around 45 kilometres per hour.

Senior officials of the Prime Minister’s Office, including advisers and top administrative figures, were also present during the event.