Skip to main content

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

  • Anniversary year for Traficon
    May 16, 2012
    Traficon’s appearance at this year’s ITS America Annual Meeting coincides with the company’s 20th birthday, and its booth will feature a wide range of video detection products and solutions. Among them will be the company’s Video Image Processor (VIP) that combines traffic flow monitoring and automatic incident detection functionality in one single board. The VIP-T module analyses images from analogue cameras while the VIP-IP can connect to a broad range of IP cameras, supporting both MPEG-4 and new H.264 v
  • Applus IDIADA collision avoidance
    September 7, 2014
    Spanish company Applus IDIADA is showing the technology behind its Project VRAIN (Vehicular Risk Awareness Intelligent Network), which aims to improve safety for its clients in the automotive industry.
  • Highways England offers public an insight into roadworks operations
    March 15, 2018
    Highways England is offering members of the public an opportunity to see how roads and structures are built and maintained at five construction sites as part of the Open Doors initiative, from the 19-24 March. The project aims to inspire young people considering career ideas and adults thinking about a change of occupation to learn more about the range of skills and professionals needed on site. Three sites for the A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon road scheme in Swavesey, Brampton and Ermine Street will
  • Communauto receives permit for car-share project in Toronto
    October 16, 2018
    Communauto will receive a permit to take part in the City of Toronto’s free-floating car-share pilot programme and will make 200 vehicles available from November. John Tory, mayor of Toronto, says: “I've encouraged the introduction of these new technologies and believe that there can be many benefits, including potentially reducing traffic and congestion by removing cars from the road." The Communauto Flex service is free to join and offers users a pay-as-you-go structure. Daily trips cost $0.41 per