Self-driving taxis speed ahead with Dubai's new testing zone

Trials are part of efforts to make quarter of journeys autonomous by 2030

A zone for self-driving vehicles in Dubai will offer a glimpse into the future as the city aims to make a quarter of all daily trips autonomous by 2030.

From 2026, a 15-square-kilometre testing zone for self-driving taxis, deliveries and other service vehicles will be established in Festival City and Dubai Creek Harbour to evaluate how autonomous transport will work on a larger scale.

The announcement was made on the opening day of the Dubai World Congress for Self-Driving Transport.

Five international companies entered bids to operate transport within the zone, and the chance to win a $3 million prize.

“From next year onwards, we will start introducing about six or seven different autonomous systems in that zone and all will be integrated with each other,” said Ahmed Bahrozyan, chief executive of the RTA’s Public Transport Agency.

"We want to challenge ourselves, and our partners, to say 'wherever I want to go within that zone, I should be able to go using an autonomous service in Dubai'.

“This is really what the Dubai autonomous self-driving strategy is all about.”

How will it work?

Passengers will begin their journey on the Metro system, arriving in the designated zone before hailing an autonomous taxi, shuttle bus or hopping on to an autonomous abra. The area will be connected to six other zones with similar autonomous capabilities.

Comparable pilot projects for autonomous vehicles have taken place around the world, including in China, the US and Singapore.

Meanwhile, WeRide has announced plans to expand its smart fleet of autonomous taxis into Al Maryah and Al Reem Islands.

Speaking on a panel at the event, Dr Hua Zhong, senior vice president of engineering at WeRide, said the company’s robotic fleet was ready to be used in Dubai.

WeRide vehicles will soon be a common sight in Dubai. Antonie Robertson / The National

“Dubai is a very busy city, but the traffic is just like other huge cities in China or the United States,” he said. “Also, the temperature here is really hot, so we have already been doing safety tests and operations in 11 countries, and more than 30 cities. We think our technology can handle the unique challenges here.”

Driverless taxis could become a familiar sight on the busy roads of Dubai, following months of extensive safety testing.

Under a partnership between Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority and Chinese firm Baidu, 1,000 autonomous vehicles will be introduced gradually until 2028.

A trial of 50 of the black and green branded Apollo Go cars has been taking place for months, collecting data and conducting safety tests.

Winning public trust in the safety of autonomous vehicles is a key aspect of bridging the gap from hype to the reality of bringing driverless taxis into the everyday transport network, said Ammar Albreiki, chief operations officer of Dubai Taxi Corporation.

“The latest AV vehicles have a 360-degree awareness, from the outside and inside of the vehicle, which translates into fewer accidents and will bring more reliability,” said Mr Albreiki during a panel on steering the future of Dubai’s autonomous taxi project.

“Instead of relying on corrective maintenance, this means all this data that we're receiving from the sensors will provide more predictive maintenance and a better customer experience.

“A public-private partnership is very important to make this work. As we progress, we're building more trust. We want to be a benchmark in Dubai and make it a scalable fleet which is part of the people's ecosystem, a system that connects with different modes of transport, connects with the Metro and connects with the last mile.”