Overview
- Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority announced Monday that fully driverless, fare‑charging taxis are now operating in Jumeirah and Umm Suqeim.
- Two parallel services are live, with WeRide cars bookable through Uber’s Autonomous option and operated by Tawasul, and Baidu’s Apollo Go rides available via the Apollo Go app with Dubai Taxi Company handling local operations.
- The first phase deploys about 100 vehicles across the network, including an initial 50 Apollo Go cars this year that DTC says will grow to more than 1,000 in the coming years.
- Regulators enabled the launch by granting Apollo Go the first permit for fully driverless testing in January and issuing a broader driverless permit to WeRide in February after supervised trials that began in December 2025.
- Service is set to expand beyond the beachside districts into commercial and industrial zones such as Dubai Silicon Oasis, Dubai Investment Park, Jabal Ali and Al Hamriya Port as the city works toward a goal of making 25% of trips autonomous by 2030.