Noon.com is teaming up with Chinese technology company Neolix to test driverless vehicles designed to make last-mile deliveries in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, according to the Dubai e-commerce platform.
"Over the next few weeks, Noon.com will trial autonomous vehicles to complete its last-mile delivery in key areas of Abu Dhabi and Dubai," the company said in a statement on Tuesday. "The driverless vans are being especially customised to suit the region’s weather conditions, and are being seamlessly integrated with Noon’s logistics platform."
The Beijing start-up began mass production of its self-driving delivery vans in May and has also lined up Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com and the country's biggest technology company, Huawei, as customers, Bloomberg reported. Neolix expects to deliver 1,000 of the vehicles, which resemble a large freezer on wheels and cost $30,000 each (Dh110,175), within the first year of production.
The Dubai Government, for its part, is aiming for a quarter of transportation to be autonomous in the emirate by 2030. The UAE ranked ninth in KPMG's 2019 Autonomous Vehicles Readiness Index, ahead of Japan, Canada, France and China.
Noon estimates that reliable driverless vehicle technology can remove up to 90 per cent of the cost associated with last-mile delivery.
“Noon is very proud to bring driverless delivery vans to streets in our cities, " said Mohamed Alabbar, founder of Noon.com and chairman of Emaar Properties, Dubai's biggest listed developer. "We are a hungry, talented and ambitious nation. I hope it will inspire our tech-driven youth to dream big and to achieve those dreams because everything is possible here.”
The e-commerce company was started in 2017 as a joint venture between is a joint venture between Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and Mr Alabbar with an initial investment of $1 billion. Noon now has operations in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
Separately on Tuesday, Symphony Investment - which counts Emaar Properties, Aramex and Americana Group as investors - signed a strategic partnership with Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing.
The parties will set up a joint venture headquartered in Abu Dhabi, with an aim to promote a sharing economy and internet consumer services in the region. Mubadala Investment Company of Abu Dhabi is evaluating joining the consortium to help expand Didi in the region.
The Bloomberg Billionaire Index in full
1 Jeff Bezos $140 billion
2 Bill Gates $98.3 billion
3 Bernard Arnault $83.1 billion
4 Warren Buffett $83 billion
5 Amancio Ortega $67.9 billion
6 Mark Zuckerberg $67.3 billion
7 Larry Page $56.8 billion
8 Larry Ellison $56.1 billion
9 Sergey Brin $55.2 billion
10 Carlos Slim $55.2 billion
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
Ultra processed foods
- Carbonated drinks, sweet or savoury packaged snacks, confectionery, mass-produced packaged breads and buns
- margarines and spreads; cookies, biscuits, pastries, cakes, and cake mixes, breakfast cereals, cereal and energy bars;
- energy drinks, milk drinks, fruit yoghurts and fruit drinks, cocoa drinks, meat and chicken extracts and instant sauces
- infant formulas and follow-on milks, health and slimming products such as powdered or fortified meal and dish substitutes,
- many ready-to-heat products including pre-prepared pies and pasta and pizza dishes, poultry and fish nuggets and sticks, sausages, burgers, hot dogs, and other reconstituted meat products, powdered and packaged instant soups, noodles and desserts.
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Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
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- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
Countries recognising Palestine
France, UK, Canada, Australia, Portugal, Belgium, Malta, Luxembourg, San Marino and Andorra
The rules of the road keeping cyclists safe
Cyclists must wear a helmet, arm and knee pads
Have a white front-light and a back red-light on their bike
They must place a number plate with reflective light to the back of the bike to alert road-users
Avoid carrying weights that could cause the bike to lose balance
They must cycle on designated lanes and areas and ride safe on pavements to avoid bumping into pedestrians
