Dubai has switched on the engines of its driverless future.
The Roads and Transport Authority has officially begun operations of fully autonomous taxis, marking a decisive leap toward public, everyday use of self-driving transport across the emirate. The service is scheduled to open to passengers in the first quarter of 2026, operating on roads already carrying live traffic.
The milestone was marked by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, who arrived at the World Governments Summit in Madinat Jumeirah aboard one of the autonomous vehicles. The journey underscored how quickly Dubai’s long-term mobility ambitions are moving from strategy documents to the streets.
During the ride, officials outlined how the taxis operate without human intervention, relying on artificial intelligence, advanced sensing systems, and real-time decision-making software. The vehicles are designed to navigate dense urban settings, respond to unpredictable traffic conditions, and comply fully with road safety regulations.
The launch event was attended by senior government and transport leaders, highlighting the project’s significance within Dubai’s broader push to embed advanced technology into public services.
The driverless taxi programme is the result of close collaboration between the RTA and Baidu’s Apollo Go platform. Discussions began during a previous World Governments Summit and rapidly evolved into a working partnership aimed at accelerating autonomous mobility in the city.
At the heart of the service is the sixth-generation autonomous taxi, engineered for large-scale deployment. Each vehicle is fitted with more than 40 sensors, including high-precision LiDAR, multi-band radar systems, and advanced cameras. Together, they allow the car to “see” its surroundings in detail, anticipate hazards, and make split-second driving decisions.
Powering the hardware is a sophisticated software ecosystem that blends real-time traffic data, high-definition maps, and deep-learning algorithms. This enables smooth navigation through intersections, safe interaction with pedestrians and vehicles, and strict adherence to traffic laws.
The technology draws on extensive real-world experience. Globally, the system has logged over 150 million kilometres of safe autonomous driving and completed more than 10 million driverless trips, helping refine operational models suited for commercial-scale rollouts.
In Dubai, progress from planning to on-road trials took roughly 10 months, a pace that reflects the city’s streamlined regulations, fast decision-making, and readiness of its smart infrastructure.
Supporting the rollout is a newly opened autonomous vehicle operations and control centre, the company’s first such facility outside China. Located in Dubai Science Park and spanning 2,000 square metres, the centre functions as a command hub for fleet management, monitoring, simulation, training, maintenance, and safety testing.
The facility links vehicle systems, smart road infrastructure, and decision-making platforms, allowing for continuous performance oversight, software updates, and rapid operational responses. It also lays the groundwork for expanding the autonomous fleet to more than 1,000 vehicles in the coming years.
With driverless taxis now officially in operation, Dubai moves closer to a transport system built around automation, sustainability, and intelligent design—reinforcing its ambition to shape, rather than follow, the future of urban mobility.
