Dubai announces lane closures on Emirates Road from Monday to clear the way for self-driving taxi tests

Dubai will partially close a stretch on one of the emirate's main motorways during peak hours this week, to enable tests of self-driving taxis to be carried out.

Vehicles will be barred from using three lanes on Emirates Road, also known as E611, opposite Al Maktoum International Airport, the Roads and Transport Authority said.

The rules will apply between 9am and 4am daily from Monday, October 26, until Saturday, October 31.

Al Maktoum International Airport Tunnel will be fully closed during this period to allow the autonomous vehicle trials to take place.

Authorities called on motorists to plan their journeys in advance and follow road signs to ensure smooth travel.

Autonomous strategy takes shape

The road closures further highlight Dubai's commitment to integrating rapidly evolving autonomous technology into its road infrastructure.

In September, the emirate's government launched a cutting-edge testing centre where future fleets of autonomous vehicles will be geared up for the demands of the emirate's busy road network.

The Dubai Mobility Labs – based at Dubai Silicon Oasis – features a vast multipurpose area including testing tracks where self-driving technology can be safely put through the paces before being approved for public use.

The high-tech centre has been established by the RTA in partnership with the Dubai Integrated Economic Zones Authority and is a key step in the emirate's drive to make 25 per cent of all journeys autonomous by 2030.

Dubai Mobility Labs provides a controlled environment to simulate a wide variety of traffic scenarios, alongside real-world testing on public roads extending from Dubai Silicon Oasis to Al Qudra.

Self-driving vehicles will be assessed under diverse operating conditions to examine their ability to respond to challenging traffic and weather across 248 test scenarios.

The testing ground is critical to check sensing and decision-making systems, to assess the capacity to adapt to evolving road situations, and to ensure vehicle readiness before modes of transport progress to trials on public roads and move to full operations.

The Dubai Mobility Labs has already held successful trials of autonomous driving technology and vehicles developed by global companies, including WeRide, Pony.ai and Tesla.

Hitting the road

Uber Technologies last month started operating Baidu's Apollo Go driverless service in its Dubai network, with plans to introduce thousands of the autonomous vehicles in the emirate.

The service, which will use Baidu's sixth-generation RT6 robotaxi, will initially be available in Jumeirah and Umm Suqeim, with plans to expand.

Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence, launched a self-driving taxi network in the city in February.

Sheikh Hamdan inaugurated the commercial operations of the Chinese-made Baidu Apollo Go self-driving cars and took a trip in one of the vehicles to attend the World Governments Summit.

In September last year, Dubai announced that a 15 square kilometre testing zone for self-driving taxis, delivery and other service vehicles would be established in Festival City and Dubai Creek Harbour to evaluate how autonomous transport can work on a larger scale.