Dubai to become first city for driverless cars outside US

DUBAI: Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of The Executive Council of Dubai, on Thursday went on the first demo ride of the Chevrolet Bolt-based Cruise autonomous vehicle (AV) in Jumeirah 1 area.

Dubai will become the first city outside the US with regard to cars without drivers. The Dubai authority will soon open a registration for the general public to use app for automatic driving cruise ride app. The company charges average $10.5 for per person ride in San Francisco. The cost of Chevrolet Bolt-based Cruise is $150,000 to $200,000.

As per the Gulf News, the testing and validation of the autonomous vehicle is an important step towards launching a self-driving ridehail service in Dubai. In April 2021, RTA and Cruise, which is majority owned by leading global automotive company General Motors (GM), announced that Dubai will be the first international market for Cruise, underscoring the city’s emergence as a global leader in adopting future technologies.

Sheikh Hamdan, alongside Mattar Al Tayer and Lieutenant General Abdullah Khalifa Al Marri, started on their autonomous journey, with a safety driver, in Jumeirah 1, marking the official start of Dubai’s first self-driving vehicle test ride.

In April 2023, the company started digital mapping preparations for self-driving Cruise vehicles in an area of Jumeirah 1 under the guidance of safety drivers. The process involved using Cruise’s HD mapping technology of the surrounding environment using specially equipped mapping vehicles, fitted with an array of sensors, including lidars and ranging devices, cameras, and more.

As part of ongoing testing and validation in October, Cruise began limited testing with five AVs accompanied by safety drivers behind the wheel. After the demo ride in December, attended by Sheikh Hamdan, Cruise will continue to conduct demo rides with safety drivers for key stakeholders in Jumeirah. At a later date, and following the developmental rides, the RTA will announce a registration process allowing selected members of the public to use the Cruise ride hailing app to experience the futuristic services of the Cruise Autonomous transport technologies.

In April 2021, the RTA signed an agreement with Cruise to operate Autonomous Vehicles for ridehail services as part of the RTA’s efforts to bolster Dubai’s position as a leader in self-driving transport. It also supports Dubai’s vision to transform itself into the smartest city in the world.

As per New York Times, GM Cruise announced that it received the greenlight from the California DMV to operate a fleet of true driverless Chevy Bolt EVs.

Over the last few years, GM’s Cruise self-driving division has been operating a fleet of autonomous Chevy Bolt EVs in San Francisco. The test program is regulated by the California DMV and now the agency has given them permission to operate vehicles without a backup driver.

GM Cruise CEO Dan Ammann said that he believes they will be the first to test a truly driverless system in a major US city.