Good morning!

Here’s your weekly roundup of Middle East AI News!

The UAE is moving closer to the commercial use of self-driving vehicles and autonomous delivery robots. Service robots are currently being used to deliver food orders at Expo 2020 Dubai (see newsletter 30 Sept), but no significant trial of delivery robots or self-driving vehicles has yet taken place in the UAE outside such a controlled environment.

Last week, Dubai’s RTA revealed that new regulations for the commercial use of autonomous vehicles are in the works and will be issued in 2022. This could change everything. The Roads and Transport Authority, of course, ordered 4,000 robotaxis from GM’s autonomous vehicle unit Cruise earlier this year, the first of which will hit Dubai’s roads in 2023.

During the past few days we’ve seen announcements of deals signed by Careem, Majid Al Futtaim and Noon with AV and robotics companies to develop autonomous delivery services, with a pilot service expected to be launched by Carrefour in early 2022.

So, does this mean that the UAE’s streets will soon be full of autonomous vehicles? I believe we’re going to see more deals like this, but there will need to be a lot more trials before any blanket permissions are given for commercial services. Introducing AV laws will be a great step forward and will pave the way for key players to fast-track new trials.

Read these stories and more below!

Stay safe and have a great weekend!

/Carrington