Driverless Pods Could Start Rolling in Abu Dhabi by Year-End

First seen moving crowds at the Paris Olympics last year, Urbanloop is now testing on Reem Island under local conditions. Trial runs in the UAE are currently around 20km/h in mixed traffic, while the platform supports up to 50km/h in France. A show pod seats four with space for four standing – eight in total – and the family of vehicles ranges from two to 10 passengers, with wheelchair and bicycle access designed in.

The appeal is speed without stops. Two parallel tracks let each pod bypass intermediate stations and run directly to a chosen destination, with several capsules staged at every stop for fast boarding. The Olympic pilot carried more than 30,000 passengers over a 2km route, and the infrastructure is intentionally light – quick to install, low-power, and aligned with the UAE’s sustainability goals.

Officials presenting the prototype at the Global Rail conference in Abu Dhabi said the focus now is reliability, safety and user experience as the system moves from test track to real streets. In the short term, sandbox corridors, phased pilots and scaling plans are expected to lift performance beyond today’s conservative speeds in mixed traffic.

Crucially, the pods are being positioned as first- and last-mile links to big movers like Etihad Rail and the Metro. If the network connects cleanly – with predictable transfers and short waits – the case for leaving the private car at home becomes far stronger, which is exactly the behaviour shift the programme is aiming to unlock.