Dubai’s Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) has expanded its partnerships with driving technology providers to deploy autonomous taxis in the city.

The collaboration includes a partnership with Uber and WeRide, who will launch AVs in Dubai through the Uber platform. It is also working with China’s Baidu, through its autonomous mobility arm, Apollo Go.

This initiative forms part of RTA’s strategy to establish Dubai as a pioneer in autonomous mobility and support its vision to become the smartest city and the best place to live and work worldwide.

Mattar Al Tayer, director general of RTA (www.rta.ae), said: “The partnerships with Uber and WeRide on one hand and Baidu (Apollo Go) on the other represent a crucial step in advancing Dubai’s self-driving transport strategy, which aims to transform 25% of all journeys in the city into autonomous trips across various transport modes by 2030.

Al Tayer expressed his satisfaction with both companies selecting Dubai as the international hub for expanding their autonomous operations beyond their home markets.

“The deployment of autonomous taxis will support the integration of transport systems by enhancing first and last-mile connectivity for public transport users,” he said. “This aligns with the first and last-mile strategy adopted by RTA last year, which aims to facilitate passenger movement between their point of origin or destination and the nearest public transport station. Autonomous vehicles also contribute to improved road safety, as human error is responsible for over 90% of traffic accidents. Moreover, they serve a wide segment of the community, particularly senior citizens, residents and people of determination.”

Uber working with WeRide, and Baidu through Apollo Go, will commence trials of autonomous taxis in Dubai this year, with a safety driver seated behind the wheel, in preparation for the driverless commercial launch in 2026.

“The broader rollout of autonomous vehicles will mark a transformative shift in Dubai’s transport landscape and further strengthen RTA’s efforts to enhance network integration by facilitating smoother mobility for public transport users,” said Al Tayer.

Wang Yunpeng, Baidu (www.baidu.com) corporate vice president, added: “This ambitious partnership with the RTA in Dubai represents Apollo Go’s biggest international expansion beyond China thus far. It also highlights Dubai’s commitment to positioning itself as a global hub for innovation in future mobility. We are committed to delivering safe, sustainable and efficient services to more regions, working alongside local partners to provide meaningful transport that benefits broader communities around the world.”

And Noah Zych, global head of autonomous mobility at Uber (www.uber.com), said: “We’re thrilled to be working with Dubai’s RTA to bring autonomous vehicles onto the Uber platform, starting with our technology partner WeRide. At Uber, we’re building the future of transportation, working with the world’s leading autonomous vehicle developers to help commercialise and deploy this technology at scale around the world.”

Jennifer Li, chief financial officer at WeRide (www.weride.ai), said: “Dubai marks a natural step forward in our commitment to advancing mobility in the Middle East as well as our continued global expansion. We believe our advanced autonomous driving technology and operational experience combined with Uber’s powerful global mobility platform will help us serve millions of consumers in cities around the world.”

To date, Apollo Go (www.apollo.auto/apollo-self-driving) has recorded over 150 million kilometres of safe autonomous driving, supporting the large-scale deployment of autonomous ride-hailing services across more than ten Chinese cities. Since February, Apollo Go has commenced fully driverless operations across China, and has completed more than ten million autonomous rides lately.