THE future of driverless transportation is taking shape in the so-called City of Gold as the city plans to introduce self-driving vehicles in October.
Dubai’s Road and Transport Authority (RTA) will launch five driverless taxis in Jumeirah 1 starting in the first week of October following the successful digital mapping in the area.
The autonomous taxi – operated by US-based self-driving technology company Cruise, will not take any human passengers yet during the trial phase next month.
Meanwhile, only selected individuals will be able to take cruise taxis by December 2023, while full commercial operations are expected by the second half of 2024.
The initiative will make Dubai the first city in the world to commercially operate cruise self-driving vehicles outside the US.
The RTA has not set an official fare yet for the driverless taxis although an official hinted it may be 30% higher than regular prices.
As part of its smart self-driving transport strategy, Dubai plans to deploy 4,000 driverless taxis and transform 25 percent of mobility journeys across the city into smart and driverless journeys by 2030.
