I tried Dubai's new Dh5 driverless taxi: Here's everything you need to know

Dubai's driverless taxis are no longer just a pilot programme you watch drive past. As Gulf News reported this week, Apollo Go's autonomous fleet is now open to the public in Jumeirah and Umm Suqeim for a flat Dh5 a ride, a promotional fare from RTA and Dubai Taxi Company that replaces the free rides offered during the initial trial period.

I booked one myself from Jumeirah Grand Masjid to Mercato and back to see what actually happens between opening the app and stepping out at your destination.

The first thing to know is that Apollo Go has only launched at specific locations, and you cannot simply book a car to your doorstep. Rides are booked through the Apollo Go app, and pickups and drop-offs are limited to designated bus stations within the service zone, so you will likely need to walk to the nearest one from wherever you actually are.

The app has its own walking navigation button built in to help with that. Once a car is booked, it does not wait around: it holds for about a minute, and if you have not boarded by then, the ride cancels automatically, so it pays to get to your stop early rather than cutting it close.

Boarding itself is simple: you punch in the last four digits of your phone number on the car's exterior panel, and the doors unlock.

Right now, each car takes a maximum of three passengers, so if your group is bigger than that, you will need to book more than one ride, though at Dh5 a trip during this promotional period, splitting into two cars barely dents the wallet. Payment is not handled upfront either, you can enter your card details to be charged once the ride ends.

Once inside, you fasten your seatbelt and slide to confirm before the car will move at all, and it is strict about this and won't move until you are fastened.

Another feature is that you can still change your drop-off point mid-journey through the app if your plans shift.

The back seats are where Apollo Go has clearly had some fun. The right rear seat has heat controls, and the left rear seat comes with a built in massage function, which is rare to find in a taxi and a very welcome one.

There is a wireless charging pad and USB ports up front, cup holders built into the rear, and a bag hook rated to hold up to 3kg. A small trunk in the back gives you somewhere to put actual luggage, and there is an emergency hammer mounted between the seats along with printed safety instructions on the window, just in case. If anything feels off during the ride, a customer support line is one button away, and in my experience, it picked up fast.

The driving itself is the part I was most curious about, and it held up. The car reads traffic lights well before it reaches them, easing off the accelerator the moment a green starts flashing so it rolls to a stop right as the light turns red, rather than braking hard at the last second or speeding to cross the light. U-turns were smooth and confident, and at one point, when a motorbike swerved unexpectedly nearby, the car sounded its horn on its own before I had even registered what was happening. Braking and acceleration throughout felt smooth rather than robotic.

When you reach your stop, the car alerts you that you have arrived, and before you unbuckle, a camera feed appears showing the view on your right side, so you can actually see any passing cyclists, cars or pedestrians before you open the door, a small touch that matters more than it sounds like it would.

For Dh5, it is hard to find much to complain about. The bus-stop-only pickup system is the main friction point right now, worth planning around if you are not already near the service zone, but the ride itself, the tech, and the small comforts built into the car make it feel like a genuine glimpse of where Dubai's taxis are heading, not just a novelty.

RTA's plan is to grow Apollo Go from an initial 50 vehicles to more than 1,000 over the next few years, part of a wider push to make a quarter of all journeys in the city autonomous by 2030. While waiting for our ride we noticed other residents boarding and trying out the car as well, something that points that this target might arrive faster than expected.