Dubai's driverless taxis will cut down costs: DTC's Alfalasi

Dubai: Self-driving electric taxi rides are scheduled to start in Dubai from Q1 of 2026 – but fleet operators are already thinking about the benefits from being able to offer autonomous ride options to residents and visitors in the city.

Obviously, there will be the complete removal of fuel expenses for taxi fleet operators, but there’s much more.

“We will end saving a lot of money when it comes to our operations because there will be limited downtime when it comes to charging these cars,” said Mansoor Rahma Alfalasi, CEO of Dubai Taxi Company.

“Because we will have the swappable battery technology instead of having to keep the car charging for a certain time. That means the car will be ready again in just a few minutes. That’s going to increase the utilization rates to much higher levels than we are seeing right now with our normal taxis.

“There won’t be any drivers for these taxis, and that means there is no need for breaks.

“Eventually, when it comes to utilization of our autonomous taxis, it will be almost 100%.”

Swappable battery technology is going to be a big thing for EV owners. It essentially means heading to a 'power station', swap the current battery for a new one and be back on the road in minutes. (For EV owners, that means leaving the full charging of their batteries for later.)

It sure is a generational transformation that the UAE is planning through the near-future use of self-driving vehicles. RTA has a clear roadmap to make things happen – the first quarter of 2026. It was last month that RTA signed up with Chinese tech giant Baidu’s autonomous ride-hailing service Apollo Go. There are also ones with Uber and WeRide, all part of the gameplan for Dubai to have one of the fastest adoption rates when it comes driverless car ride-hailing services.

The Dubai Taxi Co. will soon start its own trial run. “We will be one of the operators of autonomous ride services in Dubai,” said Alfalasi. “It’s too early to talk about the number of these vehicles in the DTC fleet. One thing is for sure, the first of these vehicles will hit the roads in the first quarter of 2026.”

It's fair to say that driverless vehicles will be one of the most anticipated arrivals in the UAE for 2026. Abu Dhabi has its own trial runs going on.

On whether DTC has decided which manufacturer to sign up with for its driverless taxis, Alfalasi said: "The RTA has identified three companies from China.

"With the exception of Tesla in the US, there aren't that many carmakers offering FSD (full self-driving) features. Even Tesla haven't finalized the FSD technology in full.

"We will get there eventually."

In Dubai, the option of whether to go for a driver-controlled or driverless for the next taxi ride will happen soon enough...