Driverless cars to patrol Dubai streets

ABU DHABI: Acacus Technologies, a topnotch UAE startup, has signed the deal to introduce driverless vehicles in the streets of Dubai. The company is all set to refurbish the Dubai Police’s entire fleet of cars to introduce driverless cars to patrol streets by 2020. With self-driving squad cars hitting the road, Dubai’s pride as a smart city will continue to grow.

The commander-in-chief of Dubai police major-general Abdullah Khalifa Al Marri, General Command of the Dubai Police department, and the founder and CEO of Acacus Technologies Talal Ben Halim signed the documents to kickstart the deal. As per a reliable source, it is being said that an MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) was signed a couple of weeks earlier and it embodies the scope of work.

Acacus started its journey from 2013 onwards in Dubai. The start-up excels in the field of intelligent fleet management and autonomous vehicles. The company was the first to design and launch an autonomous prototype, which was successfully tested for the first time on the road in 2017. It is one of the most prestigious startups in the UAE and enjoys the reputation of earning a rank amongst top 100 start-ups by Forbes Middle East in 2017.

The startup also happens to have won the 'BEST GLOBAL STARTUP' competition by defeating more than 500 companies at Gitex 2016 in Dubai. Acacus Technologies plans to install the self-driving functionality in existing police wagons that will help the vehicles patrol the streets on their own, without driver’s assistance.

There has already been an announcement to introduce flying cabs and high-speed trains in Dubai, but self-driving vehicles on the Dubai road will be the latest and much-anticipated addition to the Emirate’s cutting-edge state-of-the-art technological assets.