Dubai set to be leader in driverless mobility by 2030

The Government of Dubai is leading the transition to driverless mobility in Dubai and is planning to take a leading position worldwide in autonomous mobility by 2030, Mattar Al Tayer, director general and chairman of Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), said.

While in other cities and countries, it is the private sector that leads the process, the transition is led by government in Dubai.

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has launched the Dubai Smart Autonomous Mobility Strategy where 25 per cent of all journeys in Dubai would be transformed into driverless journeys by 2030. "We anticipate that the percentage of journeys that would be made by the driverless Dubai Metro to reach 12.2 per cent by 2030 compared with 8.8 per cent in 2016. We anticipate that the percentage of journeys made by autonomous buses to reach 6.4 per cent by 2030,” said Al Tayer.

Al Tayer was speaking on “Autonomous Mobility – Global Challenges and future Prospects” at the World Government Summit 2017 in Dubai.

Al Tayer played a film about the Autonomous Aerial Vehicle (AAV), which RTA is currently testing in cooperation with EHANG Company of China, the first ever-manned aerial vehicle worldwide.

“The AAV on display at the World Government Summit is not just a model but it has really flown in Dubai skies. RTA will spare no effort to launch the AAV in July 2017.”

During his speech, Al Tayer reviewed the current Autonomous Mobility, particularly from the governments’ prospective, as well as the expected benefits, saying: “Researches and studies related to  Autonomous Mobility started some decades ago, highlighted by fitting some vehicles with limited driverless features. These researches and techniques had evolved and have now reached to advanced levels. Software companies entered the Autonomous Mobility field over the last 10 years including Apple Company, which invested $10 billion in iCAR, in addition to many car manufacturers such as Daimler, Volvo and Tesla, which conducted several successful test runs in this regard. According to the Classification of the American Society of Automotive Engineers, the Autonomous Mobility includes five levels for driverless mobility where Level 1 is limited to the vehicle’s self-stopping when approaching a hindrance; Level 5 is about the vehicle's ability to travel anywhere under any circumstances without any human intervention.

"The commercially available technologies now fall within Level 3 approximately where a driverless vehicle is available for limited periods in normal circumstances and requires the driver’s intervention under certain conditions. The current researches and studies fall between Level 4 and Level 5, where some companies are currently testing driverless vehicles on pre-defined or non-defined routes. Governments around the world have spent more than $600 million to support researches related to driverless vehicles.

Pioneering position
“Dubai was able to carve out a nifty niche for itself among the world’s countries within a few years thanks to the vision of our wise leaders who set a clear-cut target of transforming 25 per cent of all journeys in Dubai into driverless journeys by 2030. Dubai’s Metro is the world’s longest driverless metro which lifts more than 600,000 riders a day, in addition to Dubai Tram which is also fitted with some driverless features and Phase II will witness the operation of fully driverless trams,” added  Al Tayer.   

“Dubai has also started the test run of driverless mini-buses, vehicles and boats, besides considering the options of deploying driverless express shuttle buses, and taxicabs from some leading companies.”

Al Tayer also referred to the Last Mile Trip initiatives in collaboration with the private sector including the Hourly Rental System E-Kar & U-Drive by first providing the infrastructure for the electric and environment-friendly vehicles, which may be transformed into driverless vehicles in the future.  

“Dubai aspires to take a leading position by 2030 basing on its Smart Autonomous Mobility Strategy, besides clear-cut targets, enacting & enforcing the required legislations and forging partnerships with specialized universities and research centres.”