The Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) on Sunday presented the region's first self-driving taxi at the ongoing five-day Gitex Technology Week, the biggest IT fair in the Middle East.
PHOTO: RTA
Launching the test run of the first ‘Autonomous Taxi’ in #GITEX2018. For more details about our initiatives, visit our stand S2C1 at Sheikh Saeed Hall in the Dubai World Trade Centre. pic.twitter.com/GjNqmcFL2n
— RTA (@RTA_Dubai) October 13, 2018
Dubai's Road and Transport Authority kicked off the service that includes trial runs for the next three months in selected parts of the city.
Airbus offers a peek at its flying taxi
“The vehicles feature a high safety and security standard. It can remotely scan and figure out the surroundings, such as light signals and the four sides of the track through a GPS system. It can monitor any object that may have the potential of triggering a collision,” explained Ahmed Bahrozyan, CEO of RTA’s Public Transport Agency.
Apart from that, the cars can speed up to 35 km per hour and fit up to four riders including a standby driver. The driver can take over in the case of a technical glitch by pressing a button that shifts the car from an autonomous driving mode to the traditional human driving mode.
The cars include Mercedes-Benz sedans with cameras, sensors, and LiDAR system built into the car.
Dubai starts tests in bid to become first city with flying taxis
Last month, Dubai had staged a test flight for what it said would soon be the world’s first drone taxi service under an ambitious plan.
Meant to fly without remote control guidance and with a maximum flight duration of 30 minutes, the flying taxi developed by German drone firm Volocopter resembles a small, two-seater helicopter cabin.
This article originally appeared on Mashable.
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