Autonomous taxis have made it to the Gulf, marking the beginning of the end for one of journalists’ favorite sources: taxi drivers. WeRide, the autonomous vehicle maker, and Uber have begun commercial operations on Abu Dhabi’s Yas Island, with a citywide rollout up next. Robotaxis have been operating in the capital since 2021, mostly as trials and often with a human in the driver’s seat for safety.
While Abu Dhabi is leading deployment in the Gulf, others are close behind. Dubai aims for a quarter of all trips to be driverless by 2030. And Uber, WeRide, and AiDrive are running trials in Riyadh. WeRide has more than 100 autonomous taxis in the Middle East and, with Uber, plans to scale into the thousands in the coming years.