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Sheikh Hamdan Went On A Test Drive Of Self Driving Taxis In Jumeirah 1 And It Looks Pretty Cool!

by Anupriya Mishra
Sheikh Hamdan Went On A Test Drive Of Self Driving Taxis In Jumeirah 1 And It Looks Pretty Cool!

Self-driving taxis have been the talk of the town for quite some time. And with the service expected to roll out in Dubai soon, people are always waiting on the updates. So, keeping up with this, his highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Crown Prince of Dubai and the Chairman of the Executive Council of Dubai went on the first demo ride of this self-driving taxi.

Sheikh Hamdan Takes Demo Ride Of Self-Driving Taxi

Sheikh Hamdan took a demo ride of the self-driving taxi, a Chevrolet Bolt-based cruise autonomous vehicle in the Jumeirah 1 area. This was also shared by him on his Instagram story where he can be seen enjoying the ride. He’s also seen taking in how the system works, not just for the safety of the passengers inside but also other people on the streets. So, it should be noted that this is an important step as the testing and validation of the autonomous vehicle determines whether it’s fit for driving on busy streets. Thereby making it a crucial step towards launching the service in Dubai.

He Was Received By Notable Personalities At Jumeirah 1

As the crown prince arrived in Jumeirah 1, he was received by His Excellency Mattar Al Tayer, who is the Director General, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) and Lieutenant General Abdullah Khalifa Al Marri, the Commander-in-Chief of Dubai Police, along with several other notable people. After this, he was given an update about the progress of the autonomous vehicle operation project.

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The AVs Began Mapping Back In April 2021

This comes after the company began digital mapping in April 2023 to prepare for self-driving through these vehicles in the Jumeirah 1 area, under the guidance of safety drivers. For this, the vehicle used Cruise’s HD mapping technology of the surrounding environment with specially equipped mapping vehicles. And they had been fitted with an array of sensors like lidars and ranging devices, cameras and lots more. So, later in October, as a part of its ongoing test in validation. Additionally for this, it began limited testing with five AVs accompanied by safety drivers behind the wheel.

Now, it’s worth noting that after this demo ride, the cruise will continue to conduct demo rides with safety drivers for key stakeholders in the area. Later, the Dubai RTA will then announce a registration process. So, this will allow selected people in the public to use the cruise ride-hailing app to experience the futuristic service of cruise autonomous transport technologies.

Now, it should be noted that the Dubai RTA and cruise announced that Dubai will be the first international market for cruise back in the year 2021.

So, don’t forget to stay tuned to the space for all the related updates regarding self-driving taxis in Dubai

Cover Image Courtesy: X/DXBMediaOffice & Instagram/faz3

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