TL; Dr.
- Autonomous Taxi is now available in Al Reem and Al Maryh Island
- Abu Dhabi is expanding its smart transport project with Veride and Uber
- Service is growing quickly and is expected to reach more areas soon
In Abu Dhabi, the driverless taxi is no longer a test on the outskirts, they are now running in the city’s two most busy and most important areas: Al Reem and Al Maryh Islands. This new route is a major step in the city’s plan to develop a smart, AI-managed transport network.The service started with a small fleet on Sadiat and Yas Islands at the end of 2024, quickly expanded. It now combines high-quality business, residential and financial sectors with autonomous vehicles that you can joy through the Uber app. For travelers, this means that there is a new, quiet way. For the city, it is part of a long -term effort to use technology to reduce traffic, cut emissions and improve daily life.
Why this island?
Al Reem and Al Maryh are not just random stops. They are some of the busiest places in the city. Pack with offices, apartment towers and shopping centers, these islands are a real test for self-driving systems. Roads are dense, traffic is unpredictable, and people are always moving forward. So the authorities chose him, to show that the technique can handle the real city life, not only a controlled environment.The goal is not just about showing high -tech cars. Abu Dhabi wants to travel 4 out of 4 in the city run by smart transport by 2040. This includes everything from autonomous taxis to electric buses, and eventually more spontaneous public transport options that talk to each other.
Who is behind the project?
For now, the autonomic taxi fleet is still growing, but it is much larger than a few months ago. Many partners are working together to run the service. Abu Dhabi Mobility (Integrated Transport Center) is managing the main government body project. It operates in a partnership with a Chinese-American tech company, Veride who specializes in the autonomous driving system. Uber is handling booking, and the local company runs operations on Tavasul land.If you order one of these cars on Uber, you can see that some things are different. The vehicle drives itself, but some still have a security operator on the board, just in the case. It will not feel like a robot car. It will feel like a regular ride, simply calm, smooth and no small thing.The city says that these vehicles are filled with safety equipment: sensors, cameras, emergency systems. And they are being constantly tested. So far, there has been no public safety incident related to service.
What is a big plan?
What is happening in Abu Dhabi is not only a showcase for state -of -the -art vehicles. This is part of a broad innings of how the city thinks about transportation. Here urban planning focuses on reducing stability, vibration and dependence on fossil fuels. This means that less cars, more public transport, and clever ways to connect the neighborhood.And this is not just Abu Dhabi. Cities around the world are experimenting with AI-operated mobility, but the city has moved forward the fastest. This is now the first in the MENA region to operate a commercial fleet of autonomous taxis, with 44 vehicles and soon coming on the roads.
what comes next
The city is not stopping here. More areas of Abu Dhabi Island are in queue to get autonomous taxi services in the coming months. Officials say it is part of a broad smart mobility push, which connects AI to real public needs.As technology improves, it is expected that these taxis will no longer need backup drivers. And if the rollout stays on the track, it will not be a long time that the driver -free ride feels normal as simply.
