Dubai will soon be one of the best and most advanced cities in the world…

Dubai is one step closer to achieving its goal of having driverless cars on the road. According to RTA, driverless taxis will be trialled in the city by the end of 2022.

The futuristic cars are almost ready but in order for them to be rolled out, a digital mapping of the streets of Dubai needs to take place. On July 24, Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) revealed that Cruise will begin the operation of two Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicles (EVs) to prepare these digital maps for Cruise’s self-driving vehicles this month.

According to RTA, the two Chevrolet Bolt EVs will be initially deployed on Jumeirah streets. They will be driven by specialist drivers and will obtain a high-resolution map of the physical environment using a suite of sensors. The data will then be used to create a navigable map for autonomous vehicles (AVs).

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The vehicles will be trialled at the end of the year with an aim for an official launch targeting the end of 2023. His Excellency Mattar Al Tayer, Director-General, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of the Roads and Transport Authority said, ‘Self-driving Cruise Origin vehicles, which will be deployed in limited numbers next year to offer taxi and e-Hail services.’ He added that plans are in place to ‘increase the number of deployed vehicles gradually to reach up to 4000 vehicles by 2030.’

About the state-of-the-art driverless vehicles

driverless taxi in dubai

The vehicles will be equipped with 80 sensors, cameras and LiDAR systems – light detection and ranging (laser scanning technology) to monitor road conditions, and controls to avoid collision with any objects – even those the human eye cannot see.

‘Human errors are responsible for more than 90 per cent of accidents. The Autonomous vehicles are environmentally friendly electric vehicles, and can serve considerable numbers of customers, particularly senior citizens and residents, in addition to people of determination,’ commented Al Tayer.

We can’t wait to see these driverless cars in action!

Images: RTA