RTA Dubai and Next Future Transport launch autonomous pods

The Roads Transport Authority (RTA) of Dubai, in collaboration with Next Future Transport, is testing autonomous mobility pods on the sidelines of the World Government Summit as part of its effort under the future accelerators initiatives. The trial also supports the city's Self-Driving Strategy to make 25% of public transport autonomous by 2030. These pods are designed with the intention of travelling short and medium distances in dedicated lanes and can be coupled in 15 to 20 seconds or detached, depen
February 15, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
The Roads Transport Authority (RTA) of Dubai, in collaboration with Next Future Transport, is testing autonomous mobility pods on the sidelines of the World Government Summit as part of its effort under the %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external future accelerators initiatives false http://www.dubaifuture.gov.ae/our-initiatives/dubai-future-accelerators/ false false%>. The trial also supports the city's Self-Driving Strategy to make 25% of public transport autonomous by 2030.


These pods are designed with the intention of travelling short and medium distances in dedicated lanes and can be coupled in 15 to 20 seconds or detached, depending on the rider's destination, in five seconds. Cameras and electromechanical technologies carry out the coupling and detaching processes, which can be activated in-motion.

Each pod can carry up to ten passengers and has an average speed of 20 k/h. It comes with a three-hour battery capacity; which is chargeable in six hours.

HE Mattar Al Tayer, director-general and chairman of the board of executive directors of the RTA, said: "The RTA has signed an agreement with the American Next Future Inc. to develop autonomous units named NX1 as part of the initial phase of Dubai Future Accelerators. The prototypes of these units are manufactured in Italy and shipped to Dubai to put them on trials. These pods run on a virtual pre-configured and programmed lane and are overseen by the operational system.

“The success of initial tests of these units will bring about a breakthrough in transportation systems that offer innovative mobility solutions and ease snarls in the city. The RTA is keen on ensuring the principle of safety in all services delivered to clients. The autonomous pods have three protection systems in order to ensure full control and avoid crashing into any body. The main system comprises 3D cameras, and the second one is a standby system based on ordinary cameras, and the last is operated manually by the operator.”

Related Content

  • IRF Geneva Workshops at Intertraffic 2018
    March 12, 2018
    The International Road Federation (Geneva) will be hosting three workshops at Intertraffic 2018 in collaboration with Swarco, Evonik and PTV. “An integrated approach to mobility management: Reimagining the role of infrastructure in the new connected and autonomous ecosystem” on Tuesday 20 March will examine how connecting parking, public transport, lighting urban and interurban traffic management in one holistic solution can help in solving mobility challenges way more efficiently. On Wednesday 21 March
    Read More
  • Transport for West Midlands and Whim set to pioneer MaaS in the UK
    December 16, 2016
    The West Midlands region in the UK is to pilot Mobility as Service (MaaS) to its residents. The service, Whim by Finnish MaaS operator MaaS Global, will be launched in the West Midlands metropolitan area in early 2017. The launch follows a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) by the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), transport service providers National Express and SilverRail, Birmingham City Council and MaaS Global. Other transport companies will be welcomed onboard the Whim service in the future. Th
    Read More
  • SolarBright’s studs send ice warning to drivers
    March 26, 2014
    A new smart road stud from New Zealand-based company SolarBright can warn drivers of potentially icy roads and will soon be able to alert traffic management centres and maintenance depots of the treacherous conditions. Once installed in the road the solar-powered studs monitor humidity and temperature and if the temperature drops to 4°C or below the blue LEDs in the stud start to flash to alert drivers of the possibility of ice formation.
    Read More
  • ISS Europe and CitySync showcase Jet-Aludra intelligent ANPR camera
    October 22, 2012
    Image Sensing Systems Europe and CitySync, specialists in detection and ANPR solutions for the ITS market, have used the ITS World Congress to showcase the Jet-Aludra which incorporates an IR ANPR camera, colour overview camera and an on-board processor. This cost effective Intelligent ANPR camera processes images at the time of capture, so smaller packets of information can be transferred via wireless 3G or wired connections to a central server for review or directly to a police back office facility, match
    Read More

Highlighted Content