|
|
|
THE LEAD
|
|
Your next Uber in Dubai might not have a driver
|
| Here is the thing worth knowing before it surprises you at a pickup: from yesterday, opening Uber in Dubai and asking for a plain UberX can put you in a car with nobody in the driver's seat. Baidu's Apollo Go robotaxis are now bookable straight through the normal Uber flow, and if you would rather not ride in one, that is a choice you now have to make on purpose. The default has quietly flipped from "go and find the driverless option" to "you might simply be handed it." |
| For now this is geographically small. The matching runs in select parts of Umm Suqeim and Jumeirah, expanding later. Request an UberX or Uber Comfort there and you may be paired with an Apollo Go; to raise the odds, pick the dedicated "Autonomous" option in the app. The car itself is Apollo Go's sixth-generation RT6, purpose-built and fully electric, seating up to three, with more than 30 sensors, sliding electric doors, and in-app support the operator says usually answers in under a minute. It can record audio and video for safety. The fleet is run locally by New Horizon Luxury Transport. |
| None of this arrived overnight. Dubai's commercial driverless-taxi service launched on 30 March this year with 100 autonomous cars split between Apollo Go and WeRide, and the early rides were complimentary while the city got comfortable. The Uber tie-up is the moment it stops being a free demo and becomes a paid ride you can hail like any other. My honest read: the technology has been ready for a while, and the real news is not the sensors, it is that a routine work commute in Jumeirah can now put you in one without you seeking it out. Worth deciding, before pickup, which side of that toggle you want to be on. Selfishly, I hope this is the crack in the door for Tesla's FSD here. I have been waiting on that one for years, through every promised date that came and went, and supervised trials are already running on Abu Dhabi roads under Abu Dhabi Mobility. Watching a car with nobody in it handle Jumeirah traffic makes my own car doing Sheikh Zayed Road feel a lot closer than it did last year. |
|
WHAT TO DO
In Umm Suqeim or Jumeirah, open the Uber app and choose the "Autonomous" option if you want to try a driverless Apollo Go, or stay on standard UberX if you would rather keep a human driver for now.
|
|