His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Crown Prince and Chairman of The Executive Council of Dubai, witnessed the signing of an agreement between the RTA and Cruise, a leading US-based autonomous vehicle company, to operate self-driving taxis and ride-hailing services in the emirate.
The agreement will make Dubai the first non-US city in the world where Cruise will commercially operate these vehicles.
The deployment of these self-driving vehicles is expected to significantly improve road safety levels as over 90% of accidents are due to human errors.
The all-electric vehicles are environmentally-friendly and capable of serving a wide range of clients from different community segments, including seniors and people of determination.
This agreement will support Dubai’s 2030 vision for self-driving technology, as part of which the emirate seeks to reduce transportation costs by $250 million a year and save 400 million a year by reducing environmental pollution by 12%, as well as generate $5 billion in annual economic returns by increasing the efficiency of the transportation sector in Dubai.
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His Excellency Mattar Mohammed Al Tayer, Director-General, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of the RTA, signed the agreement on behalf of RTA.
Former US Ambassador, and Cruise’s Chief Legal Officer Jeff Bleich signed on behalf of Cruise.
His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum praised the agreement between the RTA and Cruise noting that it will raise the global profile of Dubai in self-driving transport and support efforts to transform Dubai into the smartest city in the world.
“This agreement, which is the first of its kind worldwide between a government entity and a leading developer of autonomous vehicles, and autonomous vehicle technology, is a major step towards realising Dubai’s Self-Driving Transport Strategy aimed at converting 25% of total trips in Dubai into self-driving transport trips across different modes of transport by 2030.”
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