RTA starts a four-week trial of Glydways driverless pods on Bluewaters
Small self-driving electric pods for four to six people began a four-week trial on Bluewaters Island on 11 October, run by the RTA with Glydways and Dubai Holding.
Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority has started a four-week trial of the Glydways automated transit system on Bluewaters Island. RTA Director General Mattar Al Tayer opened it on 11 October with a five-minute ride on the dedicated route. The partners are Glydways, a San Francisco company, and Dubai Holding, which provided the site and infrastructure support.
The vehicles are small electric pods for four to six passengers that run on their own narrow lanes, at ground level or raised, away from other traffic. According to the RTA, they reach 50 km/h, travel up to 250 km on a charge and use 20 lidar sensors with radar and cameras. The service is designed to work on demand, taking riders straight from one stop to another, and the RTA says a full network could carry more than 20,000 passengers an hour. It also says the system could cost up to 90 percent less to build and up to 70 percent less to run than similar transport. These are the authority's own figures.
During the trial the RTA will look at safety, reliability, journey times and how passengers find the ride before deciding on wider use. Routes under study include a 2.8 km link between a Dubai Metro station and Bluewaters, and services for Jumeirah Village Circle, Dubai Festival City, Business Bay and Mohammed Bin Rashid City.
For residents, nothing changes yet: this is a test, and the RTA has not said whether the public can ride during these four weeks, what a trip would cost or when a first route would open. If the pods go ahead, they are meant to cover the short trip between home or work and the nearest Metro station. Further announcements will come from the RTA's website and the RTA Dubai app.
