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Redefining Future of Travel

The UAE set to revolutionise transport sector through air taxis, autonomous vehicles, and driverless abras in addition to state-of-the-art Etihad Rail and Dubai Metro services

By land, in the seas, or up in the air — the future of transportation in the UAE is not just to ease traffic woes, but also to redefine the sector itself with more efficient and futuristic technology.

Take for instance air taxis, which are expected to operational sooner than expected. The highly-anticipated flying taxis will be up in Dubai as early as the last quarter of 2025, and an aerial ridesharing service — that combines conventional ridesharing with flight services — will be introduced to ensure customers will be served from home or office to their final destination.

This was announced two months ago by Tyler Trerotola, general manager of California-based air-taxi company Joby Aviation. He told Khaleej Times in September this year that they have pushed ahead with the planned launch of Joby’s electric air taxi from 2026 to end of 2025.

He also confirmed that Joby is working to integrate first- and last-mile ridesharing services to move customers from their point of origin and bring them to any of the four vertiports across Dubai, then from the vertiport to their last stop.

Flight Safety

With regards to flight safety, Tretola said they have done about 60,000km test flights; while Archer Aviation, another US-based air transport company, had earlier conducted more than 400 test flights of 'Midnight' in preparation for their launch next year. The company, which will operate the taxis, conducted 402 tests in the first eight months, surpassing their target of 400 test runs four months ahead of the schedule set for 2025.

Another exciting development is the recent announcement by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence of the UAE, that Dubai has started the construction of first air taxi station near Dubai International Airport (DXB).

This is part of Dubai’s vision to become the world’s first city to offer urban aerial transport through an advanced aerial taxi take-off and landing network located at DXB, Dubai Marina, Downtown Dubai and Palm Jumeirah.

With top speeds of 320km/h, air taxis could cut travel time between DXB and Palm Jumeirah from 30-45 minutes to 10 minutes, noted earlier by Ahmed Bahrozyan, CEO of the Public Transport Agency at Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA).

“The good thing is that these aircrafts have a good range,” he said. “This allows us to do inter-emirates trips potentially. So there are exciting plans but initially we will be operating on Dubai routes,” he added.

UAE and beyond

The task of connecting the entire country is the main mandate of Etihad Rail. This 900km-long Etihad Rail, when completed, will connect all seven emirates and 11 major cities from Ghuweifat to Fujairah and beyond. The UAE is also the first Gulf country to have announced the rail connection to its neighbouring country.

In 2023, Etihad Rail started its freight operations began across the full 900km of the network. The passenger network will utilise the same infrastructure as the freight trains network.

The high-tech passenger rail service will connect 11 cities and regions across the UAE, spanning from Al Sila to Fujairah, including Ruwais, Al Mirfa, Sharjah, Al Dhaid, Abu Dhabi, and Dubai. Authorities have already announced two locations of the passenger stations. The first one will be at Sakamkam in Fujairah and the second one will be in Sharjah, University City.

Passenger trains are expected to run at 200km/h. This means the trip from Abu Dhabi to Dubai will be just 57 minutes, instead of the usual two hours. Etihad Rail also said the journey from the capital to Al Ruwais will take just 70 minutes, despite Al Ruwais being 240km away from Abu Dhabi. Trips from Abu Dhabi to the eastern emirate of Fujairah will take 105 minutes. Travelling by train will give passengers a good view of the vast UAE desert, salty bodies, and mountains. It is anticipated that once operational, the service is projected to accommodate around 36.5 million passengers annually.

Moving forward

Dubai Metro, the cornerstone of the city’s public transport network, has been operating for 15 years. Since 2009, it has served more than 2.4 billion riders across 4.3 million journeys, operating through 53 stations with a fleet of 129 trains. It has also maintained a punctuality rate of 99.7 per cent, surpassing international safety standards with its exceptional operational efficiency.

Moving forward, the Executive Council of Dubai announced in June this year plans to expand Dubai Metro stations to 140 stations (covering 228km) by 2040. Earlier, Dubai announced a Dh18 billion ($4.9 billion) blue line project to support the existing network of red and green lines by adding 30km by 2029.

“The new line will serve population of one million residents, such as Dubai Creek Harbour, Festival City, Global Village, Rashidiya, Warqa, and Mirdif, as well as urban areas like Silicon Oasis, Academic City, and more,” according to an expert.

The expansion of Dubai Metro over the coming few years is aimed at increasing the share of public transport across the emirate to 45 per cent, reducing carbon emissions to 16 tonnes per capita, and improving efficiency and convenience of sustainable transport, according RTA.

The goal, however, is not only to extend the transport network but to improve liveability in neighbourhoods, which the government describes as part of the ‘20-minute city’ plan, meaning all essential needs will become available within a radius of 20-minute travel.

Dedicated lanes for autonomous vehicles

With regards to safety, Dubai authorities are studying allocating dedicated lanes for autonomous vehicles, including a dedicated flight path for aerial taxis. The RTA is also studying expanding the dedicated lanes for buses along major roads to ensure smooth journey and boost road safety.

Meanwhile, Uber Technologies is set to introduce self-driving cars in Abu Dhabi soon. The ride-hailing company has partnered with China's WeRide to launch autonomous vehicles on its platform, which is expected to begin in the UAE later this year.

Once operational, a dedicated number of WeRide vehicles will be made available to commuters. Users will be presented with the option to select WeRide's robotaxis through the Uber app. However, the number of self-driving cars to be deployed in Abu Dhabi has not been disclosed.

Driverless abras

Autonomous water taxis are planned to ferry people from Abu Dhabi to nearby islands; while in Dubai, the RTA has started the trial operation of a driverless electric abra. The autonomous vessel was manufactured locally at the RTA’s Al Garhoud Marine Maintenance Centre. Its design retains the heritage identity of abras

RTA said the driverless abra “boasts superb features highlighted by zero carbon emissions, lower operating and maintenance costs (by up to 30 per cent), and the elimination of noise compared to diesel-powered models.”

During the trial run, the autonomous electric abra achieved ‘level 4’ out of the six specified international autonomy levels for ship design and operation.

“The autonomous procedures ensure 100 per cent adherence to the predetermined line, despite the effects of the waves and wind. The boat detects obstacles in the navigational path and notifies the control centre of any system defect or deviation from the operating plan. The system intervenes if the abra faces an obstacle during the journey, and programmes additional scenarios to handle the situation,” noted RTA, adding this is part of the “ambitious strategy to convert 25 per cent of the total mobility journeys in Dubai into self-driving ones by 2030.”

— angel@khaleejtimes.com