More than 1,000 driverless taxis will take to Dubai's roads under a partnership between the Dubai Taxi Company and Chinese company Baidu.
The launch of Baidu's Apollo Go app will begin with a fleet of 50 taxis in the first year, with plans for further expansion, the DTC said in a statement on Wednesday.
Apollo Go received Dubai’s first testing permit for fully autonomous vehicles without a safety driver in January this year. The app is now available on Apple iOS and Android devices.
Driverless taxis were put into operation in Abu Dhabi last month by Autogo, a branch of technology company K2, in partnership with Apollo Go.
DTC group chief executive Mansoor Alfalasi revealed plans for driverless services in February last year, when he said rigorous testing would be carried out to ensure passenger safety.
At Wednesday's launch, he said the tests conducted over the past few months “have demonstrated the vehicles’ readiness, particularly in terms of safety, reliability and operational efficiency, reinforcing our confidence in scaling this initiative”.
The UAE continues to embrace smart transport as part of its mobility strategy. The Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure hopes for 50 per cent of all vehicles on the country's roads to be battery-electric by 2050.
Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority plans to ensure a quarter of all trips are taken using driverless vehicles by 2030.
Uber and WeRide have already launched their own autonomous vehicle services in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
“The DTC is well-positioned to lead the large-scale operation of driverless vehicles leveraging its advanced monitoring systems and tech-enabled, data-driven operations,” the DTC said.
Beijing-based Baidu plans to expand its Apollo Go fleet worldwide.
In August last year, it signed an agreement with US ride-hailing platform Lyft to launch driverless services in Europe. It has also conducted tests in Switzerland and, in partnership with Uber Technologies, plans to introduce its driverless service in the UK this year.
It also intends to launch the service in Hong Kong.
Baidu said that, as of February, Apollo Go has completed more than 20 million rides, with weekly rides peaking at more than 300,000 during the fourth quarter of last year.
