Dubai Taxi Company (DTC) has partnered with Baidu Inc. through its autonomous ride-hailing platform, Apollo Go, to launch driverless commercial taxi services in Dubai. The launch marks the first time Apollo Go has deployed its app outside China, and positions Dubai as a hub for autonomous mobility in the region.
The service is available to residents and visitors through the Apollo Go app, which can be downloaded on both Google Play Store and Apple App Store. Bookings are also set to be extended to Bolt and other e-hail providers as the rollout scales up.
The rollout begins with 50 vehicles in the first year, with a plan to expand the fleet to over 1,000 driverless vehicles over the coming years. DTC, which operates a fleet of over 6,000 taxis and limousines and has more than three decades of experience in the emirate, will oversee operations using its monitoring systems and data-driven infrastructure.
Dubai gets driverless taxis: Apollo Go and Dubai Taxi Company Launch Autonomous Ride-Hailing Service
“Dubai Taxi Company is proud and excited to be among the first entities to roll out the operations of driverless taxis in Dubai, marking a significant milestone in advancing the emirate’s vision for smart and sustainable mobility. This initiative is in line with DTC’s innovation-driven strategy and its commitment to delivering future-ready services that elevate the customer experience. We are grateful to our strategic partner, the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), for their unwavering support and the development of a comprehensive infrastructure that enables the seamless deployment of driverless taxis, aligned with the ambition of transforming 25% of all transportation trips into smart and driverless journeys by 2030,” Mansoor Rahma Alfalasi, Group CEO, DTC added.
Mansoor Rahma Alfalasi, Group Chief Executive of DTC, said: “Dubai Taxi Company is proud and excited to be among the first entities to roll out the operations of driverless taxis in Dubai, marking a significant milestone in advancing the emirate’s vision for smart and sustainable mobility. This initiative is in line with DTC’s innovation-driven strategy and its commitment to delivering future-ready services that elevate the customer experience.”
“We are equally proud to partner with Baidu Inc. to bring this future-forward technology to life, combining global innovation with Dubai’s pioneering spirit. The successful trials conducted over the past few months have demonstrated the vehicles’ readiness, particularly in terms of safety, reliability, and operational efficiency, reinforcing our confidence in scaling this initiative,” he added.
Alfalasi also noted that trials conducted over the preceding months had demonstrated the vehicles’ readiness in terms of “safety, reliability, and operational efficiency”, expressing confidence in scaling the initiative.
The commercial launch follows two developments in January 2026. Apollo Go received Dubai’s first-ever driverless testing permit for fully autonomous vehicles operating without a safety driver – a regulatory approval that enabled Baidu to run fully autonomous ride-hailing services in the emirate.
That same month, Baidu inaugurated the Apollo Go Park in Dubai, the company’s first overseas operations and management hub, which is intended to support the planned fleet of over 1,000 autonomous vehicles.
The launch is directly aligned with Dubai’s Self-Driving Transport Strategy, which aims to convert 25 per cent of all transportation trips in the emirate into smart and driverless journeys by 2030. The RTA has been acknowledged as a key enabler, with its infrastructure development cited as central to making the deployment possible.
As of February 2026, Apollo Go has completed over 20 million rides worldwide, with weekly rides reaching more than 300,000 during the fourth quarter of 2025. The platform’s fleet has accumulated over 300 million autonomous kilometres in total, including more than 190 million kilometres of fully driverless operations.
