Dubai starts self-driving transport competition

28 October 2018
Federal law governing autonomous vehicles usage expected by 2021

The winner of the ongoing Dubai World Challenge for Self-Driving Transport is expected to build a pilot site for autonomous vehicles (AVs) in the emirate, in addition to winning $1m in prize money.

Laila Faridoon, who heads the competition organising committee, tells MEED they expect the pilot site to enter commercial operation around the same time federal law governing the use of self-driving vehicles comes into place.

MEED understands the draft law will not be ready before 2021.

Finalists

The competition, organised by the Dubai Roads & Transport Authority, has 17 finalists grouped into three clusters.

The following firms are shortlisted under the “leaders” cluster, comprised of AV pioneers:

  • Navya (France)
  • EasyMile (France)
  • Drive.ai (US)
  • Westfield (UK)
  • Baidu (China)
  • 2getthere (Netherlands)

A second category comprises of startups. The shortlisted companies in this category includes:

  • Sensible (Finland)
  • Derq (UAE)
  • IAuto (Taiwan)

A final category comprises of international and local universities. The shortlisted universities are:

  • Dubai University
  • UAE University
  • Al-Ain University of Science and Technology
  • Abu Dhabi University
  • Free Berlin University (Germany)
  • Carnegie Mellon University (US)
  • Intelligent Systems Lab at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (Spain)
  • University of Technology Sydney (Australia)

Three of the six finalists in the leaders category will win $1m each. In addition to the prize money, the top ranked finalist will build a pilot  project in a location to be determined at a later date.

The winner and runner-up in the startups category will win $1m and $500,000, respectively, while the top two university finalists will each win $300,000.

The competition aims to attract to the emirate the world’s leading AV technologies and suppliers, in line with its strategic goal to have autonomous vehicles account for 25 per cent of all journeys within the emirate by 2030.

UK consultancy Atkins is advising RTA for organising the competition.

The winners in the competition will be announced in October 2019, when the emirate hosts the Dubai World Conference for Self-Driving Transport.

Early trials

RTA and Dubai Properties, a real estate developer, completed the trial run for a ten-seater driverless vehicle at Business Bay last year.

Two previous trial runs were held in 2016 at the Dubai World Trade Centre and Mohammed bin Rashid Boulevard, the latter in coordination with real estate developer Emaar.

The trial runs were meant to test the technologies underpinning the autonomous car under Dubai’s climactic conditions while making the public aware about using the new mode of transport.

The RTA said in November last year that it is considering a broader deployment of autonomous vehicles along with establishing the legal structures required in operating them.

In March, Dubai-based developer Meraas awarded 2getthere a contract for 25 driverless group rapid transit (GRT) to be used at the Bluewaters Island development.

The autonomous vehicles, each of which could carry 24 passengers, will link the waterfront development with the Nakheel Harbour and Tower Metro station, which are estimated to be 2.5 kilometres apart. The journey is expected to take 4.5 minutes.

AV law

Faridoon says the proposed law governing the usage of autonomous vehicles will cover first and last mile self-driving transport usage, which is the main focus of the ongoing competition, as well as the use of autonomous cars by individuals.

First and last mile access refers to the initial or final route in a public transport system that relies on multiple modes that have traditionally included a bus, metro or rail, and taxis.

Multiple entities, including Abu Dhabi’s Masdar City, have pioneered the use of multi-seater autonomous vehicles for first and last-mile transport access.

 

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