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Dubai: Autonomous self-driving delivery vehicles to hit the roads soon

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Dubai - The vehicles will deliver parcels, F&B items and other similar products.

Published: Mon 18 Oct 2021, 3:28 AM

Autonomous self-driving delivery vehicles will soon hit the roads of Dubai.

While speaking on the sidelines of Gitex Global, Khalid Al Awadhi, director of transportation systems for self-driving transport and integrated services for bus stations, said Chinese firm Neolix will roll out the self-driving vehicle in cooperation with online marketplace Noon.com offering a fully automated delivery service.

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The vehicles can deliver an item like parcels, F&B items and other similar products. It has a screen that can interact with the people and validate QR codes and people can collect their items. The fully automated vehicle is likely to start operating later this month or early next month.

The Roads and Transport Authority is showcasing the self-driving vehicle at the Gitex Global at the Dubai World Trade Centre.

The vehicle has been brought into the exhibition as part of the self-driving challenge 2021 introduced by RTA. The winner of the challenge will be announced at the Dubai World Congress for Self-driving Transport on October 27.

He noted that the vehicle can work like a vending machine as well. It will contain multiple items and customers can buy certain items. The vehicle can also come to the customer's location. These vehicles will be deployed in communities – away from main roads but on pedestrian areas.

Al Awadhi said as part of the challenge, RTA ensures that the firms prepare the product in such a way that it suits the local market and environment.

“It is an international challenge that RTA hosts every two years. This year, it is focusing on logistics delivery where we have a category for pioneers from all around the world. We have participants from China, Taiwan, Australia, Italy, the USA and Russia and six from the local universities. We have shortlisted companies from six different countries. All the winners will be announced on October 27,” Al Awadhi told media on Sunday.



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