Dubai on Sunday launched a cutting-edge testing centre, where future fleets of autonomous vehicles will be geared up for the demands of the emirate's busy road network.
The Dubai Mobility Labs – based at Dubai Silicon Oasis – features a vast multipurpose area including testing tracks where self-driving technology can be safely put through its paces before it hits the roads.
The high-tech centre has been established by Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority in partnership with the Dubai Integrated Economic Zones Authority and is a key step in the emirate's drive to make 25 per cent of all journeys autonomous by 2030.
Safety drive
Dubai Mobility Labs provides a controlled environment to simulate a wide variety of traffic scenarios, alongside real-world testing on public roads extending from Dubai Silicon Oasis to Al Qudra.
Self-driving vehicles will be assessed under diverse operating conditions, examining their ability to respond to challenging traffic and weather across 248 test scenarios.
The testing ground is critical to check sensing and decision-making systems, capacity to adapt to evolving road situations and carry out vehicle readiness before modes of transport progress to trials on public roads and move to full operations.
The Dubai Mobility Labs has already held successful trials of autonomous driving technology and vehicles developed by global companies, including WeRide, Pony.ai and Tesla.
Embracing future of transport
Mattar Al Tayer, director general and chairman of the board of executive directors at Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority, said it was the “smartest integrated ground-testing of its kind in the region”.
“The project provides strategic infrastructure for testing the latest mobility technologies and systems in controlled and real-world environments, and for verifying their safety, efficiency and readiness before deployment on public roads,” he said.
“Dubai Mobility Labs is one of the key pillars supporting Dubai Smart Self-Driving Transport Strategy, which aims to convert 25 per cent of all mobility journeys in the emirate into autonomous trips by 2030.
“It offers an integrated pathway for developing, testing, validating and certifying technologies, helping accelerate a safe, orderly transition from trials to real-world and commercial deployment, while supporting the readiness of Dubai's infrastructure, and its regulatory and technical ecosystem to accommodate next-generation mobility solutions.”
The RTA has appointed Dekra – a global leader in automotive testing and inspections, founded in Germany – to run Dubai Mobility Labs over its first three years.
It will manage day-to-day operations, organise testing, and ensure compliance with international safety standards and best practices.
Autonomous strategy takes shape
Uber Technologies last month started operating Baidu's Apollo Go driverless service in its Dubai network, with plans to deploy “thousands” of the autonomous vehicles in the emirate.
The service, which will use Baidu's sixth-generation RT6 robotaxi, will initially be available in Jumeirah and Umm Suqeim, with plans to expand.
Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence, launched a self-driving taxi network in the city in February.
Sheikh Hamdan launched the commercial operations of the Chinese-made Baidu Apollo Go self-driving cars and took a trip in one of the vehicles to attend the World Governments Summit.
In September last year, Dubai announced a 15-square-kilometre testing zone for self-driving taxis, delivery and other service vehicles would be established in Festival City and Dubai Creek Harbour to evaluate how autonomous transport can work on a larger scale.
