Skip to main content

Dubai sets a high goal for driverless cars

My father often told me it was better to fall a little short of a big goal than to fall short of a small goal. Perhaps that’s the message Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum got from his dad, too. He announced this week that by 2030 fully 25 percent of trips in Dubai United Arab Emirates will be made by driverless cars, according to the Associated Press.

Sheikh Mohammed’s goal, announced without a lot of detail, may actually be possible. In many ways, Dubai could be a perfect early city site for driverless car adoption. Dubai already has many new roads, the oil-rich country isn’t lacking for funds, and the leadership is in charge. The concept of driver-free transportation won’t be new for Dubai citizenry, either, because of familiarity with a driverless rail system that last year had 178 million riders.

Recommended Videos

In Dubai, highest end luxury and sports cars are common and many of those vehicles now have driverless or driver-assist features, so for those owners the leap won’t be all that great. Sheikh Mohammed, by the way, drives himself around the city in a Mercedes Benz G-Class with license plate No. 1.

“Today, we lay down a clear strategy with specific goals for smart transportation to form one of the key drivers for achieving sustainable economy in the UAE,” said Sheikh Mohammed. He stated that the project, which would be undertaken by Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority and the Dubai Future Foundation, would lessen accidents and save money.

The plan does not only encompass private passenger cars, but also buses, taxis, and cable cars. While the financials of the plan were not laid out, one safe assumption is that at least some of the savings would come be from the money paid taxi drivers. Six large taxi companies in Dubai employ many drivers from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and other Asian countries who would be out of work if taxis are driverless.

The Roads and Transport Authority is already in talks with numerous companies developing driverless vehicles and plans to start testing on Dubai’s roads as soon as possible. As a test bed Dubai has some unique characteristics. In addition to its new roads, some of which are up to 12 lanes wide, the country regularly gets very hot. There is little rain but seasonal, thick fog is often to blame for massive collisions.

With the money and authority to make things happen, there’s no discernible reason that Shiekh Mohammed’s big goal isn’t in reach after all.

Bruce Brown
Bruce Brown Contributing Editor   As a Contributing Editor to the Auto teams at Digital Trends and TheManual.com, Bruce…
Cruise autonomous vehicle drives over woman just after she was hit by another car
A Cruise autonomous car.

An autonomous vehicle (AV) operated by Cruise ran over a pedestrian in San Francisco on Monday night just after she’d been hit by another car, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

According to witnesses, the force of the initial impact knocked the woman into the path of the Cruise robotaxi, leaving her pinned under one of its wheels. The driver in the other car reportedly fled the scene.

Read more
An autonomous car in San Francisco got stuck in wet concrete
A Cruise autonomous car.

A self-driving car operated by General Motors-backed Cruise got stuck on Tuesday when it drove into a patch of wet concrete.

The incident happened in San Francisco and occurred just days after California's Public Utilities Commission made a landmark decision when it voted to allow autonomous-car companies Cruise and Waymo to expand their paid ridesharing services in the city to all hours of the day instead of just quieter periods.

Read more
Volkswagen is launching its own self-driving car testing program in the U.S.
Volkswagen self-driving ID. Buzz in Austin

Volkswagen is taking autonomous driving a little more seriously. While the likes of Tesla and Waymo have largely led the development of next-gen driving tech, the legacy automakers are certainly starting to invest more heavily. To that end, Volkswagen has announced its first autonomous driving program in the U.S.

As part of the program, Volkswagen has outfitted 10 all-electric ID. Buzz vans with autonomous driving tech, in partnership with autonomous car tech company MobileEye. Over the next few years, Volkswagen says it'll grow this fleet of autonomous cars to cover at least four additional cities, with the current fleet operating in Austin, Texas. By 2026, Volkswagen hopes to commercially launch autonomous cars in Austin.

Read more