Summer take-off for Dubai’s ‘flying car’

RTA continues its driverless concept towards 2030 goal

DUBAI // The emirate’s first autonomous aerial vehicle will take off in July, the Roads and Transport Authority chief said.

Mattar Al Tayer, director general of RTA, said that the unmanned “flying car” had a navigation system that would allow it to carry passengers within a range of 40 to 50 kilometres without a human at the controls.

“I am happy to make this announcement, as this brings us closer to our goal to make 25 per cent of transport in the emirate driverless by 2030,” Mr Al Tayer said. He said that the UAE had made great strides in legislation and in testing driverless vehicles, but there was more to be done.

“We have four main challenges: legislation, safety, infrastructure and technology,” he said.

“Most importantly, we need to raise awareness on the safety of these vehicles, as some may be hesitant to use such advanced methods. It’s the same as when the lift was first invented, people were at first a little scared.”

Mr Al Tayer said that acceptance of self- driving technology may be the public’s biggest challenge, highlighting that the number of passengers was low in the first two months after the Dubai Metro was launched in 2009.

“We realised that people were worried about being in a transport system that had no driver, so we actually brought ‘drivers’ in and simply asked them to sit in the Metro to make people for comfortable,” he sai. Mr Al Tayer said that more than 6,000 passengers a day use the Dubai Metro and more than 20,000 use the Dubai Tram today.

Other challenges included the harsh weather conditions in the UAE and the many nationalities with many notions about driver conduct and training. “When we are talking about such technology, we also have to take into considering the high temperatures and humidity,” he said. “We also have more than 190 nationalities here, and each of them has a different background and education in driving.”

Mr Al Tayer said the RTA expected Dubai’s Self Driving Transport strategy to save Dh22 billion annually by cutting transport costs, carbon-dioxide emissions and traffic accidents.

“We will adopt a strategy for self-driving transport with clear laws and regulations,” he said.

“Dubai’s vision is a developmental one, not a commercial one. We have moved from the stage of shaping the future to creating it.”

Dubai’s goal is to make 25 per cent of its transport driverless by 2030