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Elon Musk and Mattar Al Tayer discussed developments related to the 200 vehicles purchased by the RTA and operated as part of the limo fleet to serve the Dubai Airport.` Image Credit: Twitter

Dubai: Elon Musk, the tech billionaire behind Tesla and SpaceX, recently met Mattar Al Tayer, the Director-General and Chairman of Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), in a boost to the electrification of transport in Dubai.

The two discussed developments related to the 200 Tesla vehicles purchased by the RTA and operated as part of Dubai Taxi fleet to serve the Dubai Airport.

"Discussions also included the services provided by Dubai to electric vehicles," RTA said in a tweet.

Tesla is the maker of premium electric sedans and SUVs.

On September 17, RTA added 50 new Tesla electric vehicles to the Dubai Taxi's airport limo fleet. 

The emirate is pushing the Green Economy for Sustainable Development Initiative launched by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

Dubai has also set its sights on becoming a global driverless mobility leader, outlined in its Smart Autonomous Mobility Strategy, which is aimed to convert 25 per cent of total journeys into driverless journeys by 2030.

Tesla's all electric vehicles (EVs) are fitted with self-driving system.

Musk unveiled on November 16 in California what he claims to be the fastest production car in the world, the latest iteration of the Tesla Roadster EV — which packs a 200-kW battery that allows the four-seater to zoom from zero to 100kph in 1.9 seconds.

That's shortly after he unveiled the Tesla Semi truck, which Musk said would revolutionise fleet trucking. By using artificial intelligence-driven autonomous driving, he said it could also potentially turn trucks into trains on the road.

Musk founded in 2001 PayPal, the global payments system for online money transfers that have pushed traditional paper methods by the wayside.

With the $1.5 billion he got from selling PayPal to eBay, Musk founded SpaceX in 2002 to design, manufacture and launch advanced rockets and spacecraft.

After a few failed launches, SpaceX succeeded in revolutionising space technology, pioneering the deployment of reusable rockets, and now bagging huge launch contracts from Nasa and other governments to send payload to space.

SpaceX is also eyeing its rockets to propel manned missions to Mars.

Musk helped start OpenAI, and bought shares of DeepMind is an effort to keep an eye on the progress of artificial intelligence and push for its ethical use.

Bored in traffic, Musk started The Boring Co., an infrastructure and tunnel construction company which he founded in late 2016 after he twitted about the idea of making tunnels to beat traffic in megacities.

In August, Musk took a Hyperloop pod for a 355kph spin in a vacuum tunnel, but expects the speed to get past 500kph, about half the speed of sound.

 

As of October 2017, Musk has an estimated net worth of $20.8 billion, ranking in the 2017 Forbes 400 as the 21st-wealthiest person in the US.

Here's Elon Musk — in his own words — during the World Government Summit in Dubai.