Commercial operations have started in Umm Suqeim and Jumeirah, where the Roads and Transport Authority has rolled out the first phase with 100 autonomous taxis integrated into Dubai’s transport network. Passengers can book through the Apollo Go app, while Dubai’s wider autonomous taxi push also includes availability through Uber in the same initial service areas.
The move is the product of a regulatory and commercial sequence that began to take shape last year. Dubai’s RTA signed an agreement with Apollo Go in April 2025 to start operational trials of autonomous taxis during 2025, with full-service operations targeted for 2026. Baidu said Apollo Go then received Dubai’s first permit in January 2026 for fully autonomous vehicle testing without a safety driver, a step that cleared the way for commercial driverless ride-hailing in the first quarter of this year.
For Dubai Taxi Company, the launch fits a broader effort to position itself beyond conventional cab operations and deeper into technology-led mobility. Mansoor Rahma Alfalasi, the group chief executive, described the deployment as part of Dubai’s shift towards smart and sustainable transport, while Baidu executive Nan Yang said the combination of Apollo Go’s technology and Dubai Taxi’s local operating reach was meant to create a scalable service for the emirate. Their comments reflect a model increasingly seen in the sector: overseas autonomous driving firms providing the software and systems, while local transport operators supply market access, fleet integration and regulatory familiarity.
Dubai’s government has been building the political and policy case for such projects for years. The emirate’s self-driving transport strategy targets 25 per cent of transportation trips becoming smart and driverless by 2030, a goal officials say should support safer roads, smoother traffic flows and lower transport costs over time. The autonomous taxi launch gives that strategy a visible consumer-facing form, rather than leaving it confined to pilot schemes, industrial zones or publicity events.
Baidu is also using Dubai to make a larger point about its global ambitions. Apollo Go said in March 2025 that it planned to deploy more than 1,000 autonomous vehicles in Dubai over the next few years, and in January opened Apollo Go Park in the city as its first overseas operations and management hub. The company said it had completed more than 20 million rides worldwide by February 2026 and had logged more than 300 million autonomous kilometres, including more than 190 million kilometres of fully driverless operations. Those numbers help explain why Gulf markets are attractive to the company: they offer capital, modern infrastructure and governments willing to back future-mobility branding.
Yet the launch also lands at a delicate moment for the robotaxi business. On April 1, police in Wuhan said a system failure had caused a widespread Apollo Go outage that left more than 100 robotaxis stopped on roads, prompting fresh debate over safety, emergency response and operational resilience. No injuries were reported, but the incident underlined the reputational risk attached to autonomous mobility just as companies try to expand beyond their home markets. There is no indication that the Wuhan failure is connected to Dubai’s operations, but the episode sharpens scrutiny on how operators handle faults, passenger support and system redundancy.
That tension between ambition and caution is not unique to Baidu. Reuters has reported that Uber and Baidu agreed in February to launch autonomous ride-hailing in Dubai, while Baidu has also pursued expansion through partnerships in Europe and other markets. Across the industry, companies are trying to prove that commercial autonomy can move from limited demonstrations to reliable mass transport, even as outages, regulatory questions and liability concerns remain unresolved.
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