Dubai to issue rules for driverless cars next year, says official

Dubai is set to become one of the first cities to issue regulations for the commercial use of autonomous vehicles next year, a senior official of the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) said on Wednesday.

In April this year, the RTA signed an agreement with the US-based autonomous car manufacturer Cruise, a subsidiary of General Motors, for 4,000 taxi cars. The first set of self-driving cars will hit Dubai’s roads in 2023.

“A few months ago, we signed a 15-year agreement with Cruise to introduce autonomous taxis in Dubai by the end of 2023. Initially, it will be on a small scale, but then we’ll ramp it up to thousands of taxis. It’s more of a strategic alliance. By 2023, it’s our responsibility as a government entity of Dubai to introduce regulations that would allow these vehicles to operate here. It’s a commitment from us,” said Ahmed Bahrozyan, CEO of the Public Transport Agency at the RTA.

“Companies like Cruise want to work with Dubai because we are quite fast compared to other cities in issuing regulations. We already have regulations for conducting trials of autonomous vehicles. The next step is to issue regulations for commercial operations of autonomous vehicles. We are working with the Dubai legislation authority, Dubai Police and partners. We expect that by next year we’ll have regulations in place,” he said.

Bahrozyan was speaking on the sidelines of the Dubai World Congress for Self-Driving Transport held at the Dubai World Trade Centre on Wednesday.