More than 10,000 autonomous taxis and delivery vans are scheduled to operate across the UAE next year as the country accelerates its driverless transport network, Khaleej Times reported. Faisal Al Bannai, adviser to the UAE President and secretary general of the Advanced Technology Research Council, announced at the AI Everything Abu Dhabi summit that orders for the vehicle platforms have already been placed.
Al Bannai stated that reaching this planned volume would make the UAE the largest deployer of autonomous taxis and commercial vans outside China. He noted that the initiative will transition autonomous mobility from hundreds of vehicles into the thousands across the country, especially in Abu Dhabi.
Driverless vehicles are currently operating at a smaller commercial scale in both Abu Dhabi and Dubai following pilot testing and validation. Abu Dhabi expanded Level 4 autonomous taxi services on Yas Island earlier this year, having previously become the first city in the MENA region to launch commercial driverless operations according to Abu Dhabi Mobility, while Dubai operates commercial services in Umm Suqeim and Jumeirah.
The vehicle deployment forms part of an initiative focused on physical artificial intelligence, integrating intelligent systems into physical hardware including street vehicles, delivery vans, and indoor robots in malls and residential compounds. Al Bannai added that companies providing frontier physical intelligence will be announced.
Sources
- Khaleej Times · 2026-10-06
