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The upcoming Expo 2020 in Dubai will showcase future mobility from different countries, such as the largest elevators, hyperloops, airships and SpaceX rockets. However, the center of all this will be the wave of smart transportation in Dubai and the UAE.
Dubai and the UAE have already begun to act and are actively promoting sustainable transportation and reducing their carbon footprint.
Dubai already has a first-class public transportation system, including the driverless Dubai Metro and Dubai Tram. Its core is bus operation, which uses cutting-edge technology to allow passengers to track buses in real time. There is also a huge fleet of taxis, providing services to people and allowing Dubai to move on.
Dubai and this country have always been a forward-thinking country and very ambitious for electric vehicles (EV), offering various incentives such as free parking and Salik tags. It has also installed 750 charging stations across the country.
Self-driving taxi
The emirate will change gears and hopes to put 5% of the self-driving taxis in its Dubai taxi fleet on the road within a few years.
The announcement is part of the Dubai Taxi Company (DTC) strategic plan for 2021-2023. The Road and Transportation Administration (RTA) aims to revolutionize the taxi industry by adopting artificial intelligence and intelligent systems.
As a step towards this goal, RTA has begun to sign a cooperation agreement with Cruise, which is supported by General Motors, to operate driverless taxis and shared transportation services in Dubai.
RTA plans to have a limited number of vehicles by 2023 and hopes to expand its operations by having 4,000 autonomous taxis by 2030. This ambitious plan will make Dubai the first city outside the United States to operate such vehicles.
As part of Dubai’s 2030 autonomous driving technology vision, the emirate will reduce environmental pollution by 12%, reduce transportation costs by 900 million dirhams per year, save 1.5 billion dirhams per year, and generate 18 billion dirhams for passing Improve the efficiency of Dubai’s transportation sector to obtain annual economic returns.
Trial run on site at Expo 2020 Dubai
RTA has already started trial operation of self-driving cars at Expo 2020 Dubai. The vehicle is used to commute on a dedicated path from the main entrance to the employee’s office.
The trial operation lasted for three months, including testing autonomous technology, ensuring personal safety and protecting surrounding property.
“The self-driving transportation strategy is part of initiatives aimed at supporting the development of a green economy. The trial of self-driving cars at the Expo site is an achievement and a complement to our efforts to promote self-driving cars in various hotspots in Dubai,” RTA Public Transport Agency CEO Ahmed Bahrozyan said at the time.
The vehicle used for trial operation adopts green technology, is driven by electricity, and can run for up to 16 hours. It can accommodate 15 riders (10 sitting and 5 standing) and can travel at a speed of 25 km/h with a top speed of 40 km/h.
Advanced sensors and high-precision positioning systems are used in the vehicle. It can monitor obstacles and automatically slow down when an object appears. When an object approaches the vehicle, it stops completely.
Seeds sown in 2016
In fact, the seeds were sown in 2016, when a self-driving car was tested on Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Avenue in downtown Dubai for a month.
It is a joint venture between RTA and Emaar Properties, and the electric shuttle named EZ10 built by Omnix International and Easy Mile was tested.
The shuttle bus has no specific front or rear. It runs in both directions along a 700-meter trial route from Sheikh Mohamed Bin Rashid Avenue, passing the iconic Burj Khalifa, Dubai Mall, Dubai Opera and Souq Al Bahar.
Since then, RTA has carried out a series of trial runs in Dubai World Trade Center, Business Bay, Sustainable City and Dubai Park.
It’s time to “cruise”
As part of the RTA’s grand plan, Cruise, a San Francisco-based robotic taxi company backed by automobile giant General Motors, will open stores in the emirate in 2023. Origin is said to be unveiled in January last year and will be put into operation in Dubai in 2023. Cruise tested these vehicles at its San Francisco base.
Paid driverless taxi services in China
A Chinese company called Baidu tested driverless taxis in Beijing at the end of last year and started paying driverless taxi services in May of this year. This vehicle transports passengers to Beijing Shougang Park, where the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics will be held.
Singapore has also tested self-driving cars. In fact, it is one step ahead by simulating different scenarios such as traffic intersections, crosswalks, bus lanes, slopes and even different weather conditions.
Dubai enters the top 10
On a broader scale, the UAE ranks among the top 10 in the 2020 Autonomous Vehicle Readiness Index (AVRI), an annual survey conducted by KPMG International. AVRI is a tool that can help measure the readiness of 30 countries/regions, including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Australia, Japan, and India, for autonomous vehicles.
The UAE ranks eighth ahead of the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Japan, Canada, Spain, Italy and Russia with a score of 22.23. Singapore jumped from second place in 2019 to the top of the list with 25.45 points, while the Netherlands gave up its position. The United States ranks fourth, lower than Norway, and the United Kingdom ranks ninth after Finland, Sweden, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates.
james@khaleejtimes.com
James Jose
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