All about Autonomous Vehicle Laws in the UAE
The future of cars is already here as the world moves towards adopting driverless vehicles. It seems like Autonomous vehicles will become common on the roads sooner than we expected. Dubai is among the few cities with a proper plan in this regard. The Emirates expects to have 4,000 autonomous vehicles deployed by 2030. For that reason, the road and transport authorities have introduced autonomous vehicle laws in the UAE.
Self-driving cars use various technologies and sensors to function autonomously. However, these cars still need an operator and regulations. Regarding autonomous vehicles, Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum has launched a strategy for 2030. RTA has also introduced other self-driving car laws in the UAE to regulate autonomous vehicles in the Emirate.
Let’s go through the autonomous vehicle laws in the UAE and find out how these laws will ensure the safe operations of self-driving vehicles.
Self-Driving Cars Laws in the UAE
Since self-driving cars are the future, their regulation becomes essential to ensure the safety of passengers and pedestrians. Additionally, the Road and Transport Authority announced a strategy for driverless cars in 2016 that aims to make 25% of all trips driverless in Dubai.
With everything set for the future of driverless cars and upcoming transportation projects in the UAE, RTA has announced laws for autonomous vehicles in Dubai, and other Emirates will follow the same action soon.
Here are all details on the autonomous vehicle laws in different Emirates.
Autonomous Vehicle Law in Dubai
Under the self-driving car law in Dubai, the RTA will work on an action plan and process to ensure a safer experience for the operators of autonomous vehicles. The RTA has made the test runs of the driverless cars to ensure the safety of passengers, pedestrians and public properties.
FUNCTIONS OF THE AUTHORITIES
Since there are several challenges to self-driving cars, RTA has the following functions according to this law for autonomous vehicles in the UAE:
- Ensure the technical, security and safety standards according to the manuals and relevant adopted standards and specifications.
- Establish the safety standards required to maintain all levels and phases of the test runs of autonomous vehicles.
- Approve the conditions, standards and procedures for conducting the test runs of the driverless cars.
- Determine the roads and areas where test runs of self-driving cars will take place, as well as the speed limits and times prescribed for such tests.
- Issue pass certificates for autonomous cars that complete test runs successfully.
- Establish and prepare the infrastructure required for conducting tests of driverless cars according to the relevant standards and specifications.
Alongside the functions mentioned above, Dubai Police and Dubai Corporation for Ambulance Services will participate in the assessment of test runs of driverless cars. Moreover, they will deploy the necessary police patrols and ambulance vehicles when conducting test runs of self-driving cars.
REQUIREMENTS FOR AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE OPERATORS
Self-driving car operators must meet the following requirements that will regulate the licencing of the drivers according to the RTA law for driverless cars:
- Qualify to drive the autonomous vehicle and operate its systems
- Acquaint the simulation system available on board the autonomous vehicle and the smart systems adopted by the RTA for driving this type of vehicle.
The RTA will also develop the infrastructure for self-driving cars and introduce the traffic solutions necessary to ensure road safety and avoid traffic disruptions.
These were all the autonomous vehicle laws introduced in the UAE. As the operations of self-driving cars will increase, Emirates, other than Dubai, will also introduce a set of rules and regulations. Since self-driving cars aren’t a common sight, you can look for other used cars for sale in the UAE while awaiting the launch of new self-driving cars.
Stay tuned to the dubizzle cars blog to receive more updates on self-driving car laws in the UAE.