Dubai To Deploy Many Driverless Taxi's by 2023

As part of the Dubai Taxi Corporation's Strategic Plan for 2021 to 2023, one in 20 taxis in Dubai will be driverless by 2023.

As UAE supports everything that’s green, more than half of the emirate's fleet will also be eco-friendly.

Mattar Al Tayer, director general of the authority, said artificial intelligence and smart technology systems were used to enhance the performance of the public transport network and bolster customer satisfaction.

“The process requires increasing the fleet of taxis and limos to match the rapid growth seen by the emirate and step up the integration of transportation means. The ultimate goal of these efforts is to ease the mobility of mass transit riders to their final destinations, especially Expo 2020 visitors,” he said.

“The plan includes 51 initiatives spanning several key aspects highlighted by: increasing DTC’s market share in the taxi sector from 41.5% to 44% by 2023, increasing the market share of limousines operated by e-hail apps from 8.5% to 12%by 2023, and increasing the percentage of taxi trips through the same apps from 14% to 16% by 2023.

"The plan also aims to convert 5% of the taxi fleet to autonomous vehicles by 2023 and increase the percentage of environmentally friendly vehicles to 56%."

The region's first driverless taxi was piloted during the Gitex Technology Week that starts in Dubai in 2018. The Roads and Transport Authority's (RTA) autonomous taxis would help ferry Dubai Metro and tram passengers to their final destinations.