My ride in Abu Dhabi’s driverless taxi felt like stepping into a sci-fi movie

Dubai: The first few seconds are the strangest. You expect a driver to turn and greet you, or at the very least, adjust the mirror. Instead, the front seat is empty and the steering wheel moves on its own. The car unlocks only when you tap your phone. The door swings open, you take your seat, buckle up, and press “close door” on a touchscreen. Then the vehicle pulls away.

It felt like stepping into a scene from a science-fiction film, but this was a real autonomous ride on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, part of Uber’s new invite-only programme for fully driverless taxis.

Once on the road, the vehicle handled itself with surprising calm. It took a U-turn, stopped at traffic lights, let pedestrians cross, and followed every rule with near-obsessive precision. What stands out most is how ordinary it begins to feel after a few minutes. The absence of a driver stops being a novelty and becomes a demonstration of how much the technology has matured. The van-type Robotaxi GXR used in Abu Dhabi runs on Level 4 autonomous technology and recently received approval for fully unmanned operations in Beijing. Inside, it seats five passengers, with the driver’s seat empty and separated by a glass barrier.

The steering wheel turns on its own. The vehicle will not move until every passenger is buckled in. The touchscreen displays speed, distance and route information and lets riders unlock doors at the end of the trip.

LiDAR, radar, and cameras build a live 3D map of the surroundings, reacting to traffic in real-time. The ride feels steady, predictable and quieter than a typical trip with a human driver. There are no sharp brakes or sudden jolts.

Pricing will remain the same as UberX and Uber Comfort, which are Uber’s lowest-cost tiers.

Uber has now started closed-group testing of fully autonomous rides in the capital. This is the next step in the company’s partnership with the Integrated Transport Centre, WeRide and Tawasul, and follows the first deployment of autonomous vehicles outside the US in 2024.

The service has been expanding since July 2025, now covering nearly half of Abu Dhabi’s core areas, including Al Reem and Al Maryah. It has become the largest commercial robotaxi network operating outside the US and China.

Much of this rollout rests on milestones reached quietly over the past eighteen months. Abu Dhabi Mobility has granted the first two operating permits for fully autonomous vehicles, following a series of safety, sensor, and performance tests conducted in real traffic conditions.

WeRide’s vehicles have already logged more than 800,000 kilometres in the capital as of October, with each robotaxi completing up to 20 trips per 12-hour shift. Testing of fully driverless Level 4 operations has been underway since the second quarter of the year, making it the first large-scale deployment of its kind in the region.

“We’re excited to start invite-only passenger testing of fully autonomous rides in Abu Dhabi,” said Mohamad Jardaneh, Head of Autonomous Mobility, Middle East at Uber. “Our collaboration with the Integrated Transport Centre, WeRide, and Tawasul marks a major milestone in Uber’s commitment to shaping the future of mobility in the UAE.”

He added that passengers requesting an autonomous ride may soon be matched with a fully driverless WeRide vehicle, provided the route is within the operating zone.

Robotaxi services are already active in several Chinese cities, and WeRide plans to expand to Zurich next. In the Middle East, robotic fleets have been deployed in both Abu Dhabi and Riyadh, with Abu Dhabi now becoming the region’s most advanced testbed for full autonomy.

Standing on the pavement afterwards, watching the vehicle glide away with no one behind the wheel, it is hard not to feel that the future has arrived earlier than expected. What once looked experimental is now edging into the mainstream.