Following the successful digital mapping of the Jumeirah 1 region, fully automatic self-driving taxis will operate on Dubai's streets starting next month, a top official from the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) announced on Tuesday. The first week of October will see the deployment of a total of five driverless taxis along the 8 km stretch of Jumeirah Road between the Etihad Museum and Dubai Water Canal, according to Khaled Al Awadhi, RTA director of Transportation Systems, Public Transport Agency at RTA, who was speaking to Khaleej Times on the sidelines of the 3rd Dubai World Congress for Self-Driving Transport.
The self-driving taxi, which is being trialed by General Motors (GM) subsidiary Cruise, a self-driving technology business with headquarters in the US, won't be accepting any human passengers just yet. However, a small number of people will be able to use Cruise taxis by the end of the year, with full commercial operations beginning in the second half of 2024. Dubai will become the first city in the world to commercially operate Cruise self-driving vehicles outside of the US once the city's driverless cab and e-hail services are fully operational.
According to Al Awadhi, RTA and Cruise have finished digitally mapping the region of Jumeirah 1 between the Etihad Museum and the Dubai Water Canal. Two human-driven Chevrolet Bolt EVs have been operating in Dubai's Jumeirah neighbourhood since July, recording the streets, pedestrian crossings, signs, and other road characteristics to produce a digital map that autonomous cars may use to navigate. Three people can ride in a cruise cab at once. Al Awadhi pointed out that the pricing for the self-driving taxis has not yet been determined by RTA, but he said it will be equivalent to limo taxis, which are typically 30% more expensive than conventional cabs in Dubai.
The Chevrolet Bolt is an all-electric, zero-emission vehicle that makes up the self-driving taxi. It has a variety of sensors, including radars, cameras, and LiDAR (a laser sensor that utilises near-infrared light to discern the forms of things), which can measure the separation between objects and people on the street.
