Living in Dubai is great. We’ve got the best food, brilliant beaches and loads of beautiful buildings.

But there’s no getting away from it, Dubai traffic can be a living, breathing nightmare.

Luckily, you’re not the only one to notice as the city authorities have too.

Beyond major road projects which promise to significantly cut down traffic across Dubai, there are also quite a few outside-the-box futuristic ideas that the city wants to introduce.

Dubai is aiming to become the “world’s smartest city” by making use of artificial intelligence and smart technology to collect data and inform decisions on policy and infrastructure.

Some of the ideas being introduced feel like they’ve been ripped straight out of science-fiction (but in a practical way).

Of course, you’ll have seen the headlines and wondered what on earth is going on so let’s dive in, shall we?

Dubai traffic: Artificial Intelligence

For better or worse, AI is going to be a big part of our daily lives from now on. Thankfully, there’s more to AI than the silly little joke pictures flying around your group chat.

It also has a lot of practical uses too. In May of 2023, it was revealed that AI will be used on Dubai roads in a bid to ease traffic.

The RTA aims to use AI to analyse traffic data to give them a better understanding of where road works need to be carried out.

Dubai aims to fully integrate the AI technology citywide by 2031.

Driverless abras and taxis

Dubai is aiming for 25 percent of all public transport to be self-driving by 2030 with 4,000 driverless taxis forming part of the overall plan by the RTA.

In the past year, Dubai has introduced self-driving taxis to its fleet with the first tests being completed of its new self-driving Chevrolet Bolt vehicles in the Jumeirah area.

Tests required a safety driver to remain behind the wheel and no passengers were allowed in the cars initially. Dubai was the first city outside the USA to operate a self-driving Chevrolet.

So keep your eyes peeled, you may soon not have a driver to chat away within a taxi.

Also in 2023, tests were carried out on a driverless abra along Dubai Creek from Al Jaddaf to Festival City Station. Similar checks to ensure safety standards have also been conducted which involved testing its autonomous capabilities.

As the abra travelled, a captain remained on board and only intervened if it needed to.

Dubai traffic: Flying taxis

The Roads and Transport Authority has signed an agreement which will see Dubai become the first city in the world to have a commercial, citywide electric aerial taxi service and vertiport network.

Dubai Downtown, Dubai Marina, Dubai International Airport (DXB) and Palm Jumeirah will be the first locations in the city to have vertiport sites that will allow the taxis to land and take off.

Aircrafts will be able to carry a pilot and up to four passengers at speeds of up to 200 miles per hour.

The flying taxis will see a journey between DXB and Palm Jumeirah cut from 45 minutes by car down to 10 minutes.

Laser traffic patrols

Ok, this one does sound ever so slightly threatening but it functions more like your uncle pointing out potholes on Facebook than a stormtrooper on the Death Star.

The RTA mount an AI-powered laser scanner to patrol cars on Dubai’s roads, motorways and pavements which are capable of detecting cracks, blemishes and potholes as small as 1mm.

This allows the city to know which of its 18,765 lanes needs work and an upgrade. The patrol car is able to scan the road network every two years.

The novel way of assessing the condition of roads found that 95 percent of the city’s roads were in good nick as of January 2023.

Road improvement

Not as flashy or glamorous as the others on the list but still the number one priority for the RTA is to build new roads, improve existing ones and construct bridges.

Hundreds of millions of dirhams are being invested in new bridges and road widening in key areas which will help traffic flow in the direction of both Abu Dhabi and Deira.

There will be improvements at four main intersections at Hessa Street which is expected to serve 640,000 people by 2030.

The long-running Al Shindagha Corridor Improvement Project has cost the RTA billions but with it said to benefit one million drivers, it will save a lot of people a lot of time.

Robot traffic patrols

The RTA and Dubai Police have unleashed a ‘Robocop’ onto the streets of Jumeirah 3 as part of a trial to reduce crime involving soft mobility vehicles such as scooters and bikes.

It will use facial recognition linked with your Emirates ID to detect any offences it comes across.

The initial 30-day trial will study the accuracy of Artificial Intelligence’s detection during Robocop’s daily eight-hour patrol and not dish out any fines until it is officially rolled out.

As for how this helps with traffic flow, it should deter riders from meandering into places where they shouldn’t be.

Dubai traffic drones

You may need to keep your eyes peeled not only on the road ahead but also on drones flying above you as Dubai looks set to roll out drones across the city to cope with a number of problems.

Firstly, there will soon be drones that fly overhead which are capable of spotting the often unpunished offences such as unfastened seatbelts and drivers using their phone.

Information gathered by the drone will be relayed back to Dubai Police who will then be able to immediately act.

And secondly, a drone with traffic signals capable of flying to the scene of built-up traffic was revealed at the World Police Summit in Dubai earlier this year.

It could soon be introduced to help in emergency situations but is still in the testing phase. The 3D-printed drone has been designed to work as a temporary solution until police are able to arrive at the scene.

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