Media

 H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Executive Council, witnessed the signing of an agreement between the Road and Transport Authority (RTA) and Cruise, a leading US-based autonomous vehicle company, as part of which Cruise will operate self-driving taxis and ride-hailing services in the emirate. The agreement will make Dubai the first non-US city in the world where Cruise will commercially operate these vehicles.

The deployment of these self-driving vehicles is expected to significantly improve road safety levels as over 90 percent of accidents are due to human errors. The all-electric vehicles are environmentally-friendly and capable of serving a wide range of clients from different community segments, including seniors and people of determination.

This agreement will support Dubai’s 2030 vision for self-driving technology, as part of which the emirate seeks to reduce transportation costs by AED900 million a year and save AED1.5 billion a year by reducing environmental pollution by 12 percent, as well as generate AED18 billion in annual economic returns by increasing the efficiency of the transportation sector in Dubai.

Mattar Mohammed Al Tayer, Director-General, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of the RTA, signed the agreement on behalf of RTA. Cruise’s Chief Legal Officer Jeff Bleich signed on behalf of Cruise. The agreement was signed in the presence of Abdulla Al Basti, the Secretary General of The Executive Council of Dubai, Philip Frayne, Consul General of the United States in Dubai, and Ahmed Bahrozyan, Chief Executive Officer of The Public Transport Agency at RTA.

Sheikh Hamdan praised the agreement between the RTA and Cruise noting that it will raise the global profile of Dubai in self-driving transport and support efforts to transform Dubai into the smartest city in the world.