Dubai driving licence: Smart cars to test drivers

The smart yard control room

Dubai - The system is the first of its kind across the globe.

By Staff Reporter

Published: Mon 6 Mar 2017, 1:46 PM

Last updated: Wed 28 Sep 2022, 3:48 PM

To make driving test more transparent, Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has opened the Smart Yard for testing light driver license applicants at Dubai Driving Center in Al Khail, Al Quoz Industrial Area.

"The smart testing yard has been fitted with certain marks where the vehicle can detect the locations of the five testing maneuvers once it passes on them with the aid of sideway cameras fitted to the vehicle," said Ahmed Bahrozyan, CEO of RTA's Licensing Agency.

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The five testing maneuvers include garage, slope, parallel, angle and emergency-brake parking maneuvers.

Vehicles are fitted with powerful cameras and sensors linked to a central processor capable of capturing various kinds of information and automatically calculating the errors made.

The testing vehicle has an onboard tablet to explain the maneuvers through voice instructions at the time of testing in addition to a host of functions usable during the training phase," explained Bahrozyan. "Then the images and data captured by ground sensors will be sent to a processor for assessing the result."

The RTA launched the trial run of the Smart Yard initiative, one of the key tests undertaken by driving license applicants, during the UAE Innovation Week last year.

Bahrozyan said: "The testing of drivers on a Smart Yard is one of the key projects undertaken by RTA with the aim of converting drivers testing vehicles into smart vehicles capable of detecting testing maneuver spots and gauging the driver's response to each of them."

According to RTA, the Smart Testing system meets a number of objectives such as increasing the level of transparency, reducing the error margin in taking pass or fail decisions without the intervention of the examiner and enhancing the efficiency of testing steps through a consistent automated operation of smart vehicles.

"The system will also improve the safety aspects through using multiple technologies to avoid accidents such as the collision with barriers, and enable individuals to work under a smart environment capable of leveraging their skills," added Bahrozyan.

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