Skip to main content

Increase in passengers for Abu Dhabi autonomous vehicles project

As the driverless vehicle project in Masdar City, Abu Dhabi began its seventh year of operations, it also welcomed its two millionth passenger. The project has collected a wealth of data which is used for further development of autonomous vehicles, both in relation to the technology and in the interaction with the users. The data collected by vehicle supplier 2getthere shows an increasing number of passengers using the system, from an average of 787 per day in May 2014 to 1,382 per day in 2016, a 75 per
November 17, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
As the driverless vehicle project in Masdar City, Abu Dhabi began its seventh year of operations, it also welcomed its two millionth passenger. The project has collected a wealth of data which is used for further development of autonomous vehicles, both in relation to the technology and in the interaction with the users.

The data collected by vehicle supplier 8172 2getthere shows an increasing number of passengers using the system, from an average of 787 per day in May 2014 to 1,382 per day in 2016, a 75 per cent increase. This increase is aided by the willingness of passengers to share transit, with the average occupancy at 60 per cent overall and peaking at nearly 90 per cent at weekends.

According to 2getthere CEO Carel van Helsdingen, the data is invaluable, providing information on the way in which passengers react with the system and reliability of the vehicles in difficult environmental and service conditions.

Related Content

  • February 20, 2019
    MaaS Market London conference attracts global experts
    A plethora of global mobility experts is heading for ITS International’s 2019 MaaS Market Conference, reflecting the increasing pace of Mobility as a Service deployment. Colin Sowman reports Mobility as a Service (MaaS) cannot exist without the digitisation of transport services - and digitisation is without doubt the biggest challenge the transport sector has ever faced. It will create more changes over the next five to 10 years than the transport sector has seen in the past 100 - and there will be winn
  • November 12, 2015
    Preventing connected vehicles creating disconnected drivers
    Advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) are evolving at a rapid pace – but drivers’ ability to cope with them is not and at some point the mismatch must be addressed. Probably the biggest challenge the transportation industry has ever faced.” That is how Dr Bryan Reimer of Massachusetts Institute of Technology AgeLab describes the challenges posed by semi-autonomous vehicles.
  • November 24, 2016
    UK government to invest in autonomous cars, low emission vehicles
    Presenting his Autumn Statement, Chancellor Philip Hammond announced investment in transportation, including £390 million for future transport and a major new investment in the UK transport infrastructure. The £390 million investment in future technology includes: investment in testing infrastructure for driverless cars; provision of at least 550 new electric and hydrogen buses, reduce the emissions of 1,500 existing buses and support taxis to become zero emission; installation of more charging points fo
  • December 17, 2014
    Communications redundancy increases VMS reliability
    Hybrid communications to variable message signs increase resilience to natural disasters and enable deployment in remote areas, as Alan Allegretto explains. Variable Message Signs (VMSs) are a common sight and a well-proven means to improve public safety on our roads and highways. ITS professionals rank the VMS as second only to interoperable radios as the most important technology to improve effectiveness during emergency incidents and evacuations. Ironically, however, current systems suffer from one criti