Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), in collaboration with Dubai Properties, announced the extension of the trial run of the autonomous vehicle deployed in the Business Bay by another month ending in Feb 22.

 The decision has been taken in response to the encouraging number of users of the vehicle, which is 1,500 persons. The 10-seater vehicle has been deployed to shuttle over a 600 meter-long track in the Business Bay following the successes of the initial two phases of the trial operation at the Dubai World Trade Center and the Mohammed bin Rashid Boulevard.

“The trial run of the driverless vehicle in the Business Bay marks the third phase of the trial operation following the successful debut at the World Trade Center and the second trial at the Mohammed bin Rashid Boulevard in coordination with Emaar. The extension of the trial run has been considered in response to the wishes of more than 1500 visitors during the first month who were excited with the experience,” said Khaled Al-Awadi, director of Automatic Fare Collection System at RTA’s Corporate Technology Support Services Sector.

“The strategic plan of the RTA envisages the testing of autonomous vehicles under Dubai climate conditions. The trial run is also intended to give the public a feel of the smart vehicles technology, test the operation under Dubai climate conditions, and showcase the Autonomous Mobility Strategy of the Dubai Government aimed at transforming 25 per cent of total mobility journeys in Dubai to driverless journeys on public transport means by 2030.

“The experience seeks to screen the views of the public about the driverless mobility experience through a questionnaire; which will also gauge their satisfaction rating,” he added.

The electric-powered smart vehicle is 100 per cent environment-friendly and can travel up to 8 continuous hours. The vehicle can accommodate 10 riders (6 seated and 4 standing) and can travel at a speed of 10 km/h.

It is designed to move within closed internal roads in areas such as residential districts, entertainment venues and the likes. It boasts of high safety and security standards as it is fitted with four-directional GPS System and uses laser sensors enabling it to spot any object 40 meters away. It can slowdown automatically once an object approaches in a range of two meters. If the object approaches less than two meters, the vehicle comes to a complete halt. – TradeArabia News Service