Dubai is gearing up for another leap in smart mobility, with Glydways set to introduce on-demand, driverless electric pods.
Dubai doesn’t do incremental when it comes to transport. The city has already normalised driverless metros and flying taxis, turning futuristic ideas into everyday reality. Next up in Dubai are Glydways, an autonomous transit system built around compact, electric pods designed to move people quickly and comfortably, with costs expected to be comparable to public transport.
So, what exactly is it? Glydways uses small, driverless vehicles that typically seat four to six passengers. Rather than joining the chaos of everyday traffic, the pods travel on dedicated guideways that can be installed alongside existing roads and built above or below ground. The concept is simple: deliver the throughput of a rail network while keeping the journey feeling personal and direct.
For passengers, the experience is meant to be closer to ordering a ride than waiting on a platform. Riders can request a pod via an app or kiosk, pay with an Nol card or phone, and travel from point A to point B without intermediate stops. Inside, the pods are fully enclosed and air-conditioned, with Wi-Fi on board and practical safety features, including ticket-scanning support and an SOS button.
Behind the scenes, the system relies on AI-powered software that manages routing and pod movement in real time. Each vehicle is coordinated to ensure routes do not clash, enabling a high volume of pods to operate efficiently along a single corridor. Glydways says the network can move more than 10,000 passengers per hour, in each direction, depending on the route and configuration.
Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) plans to trial and expand the system across four key locations. The first test route is set to run from National Paints Metro Station to Bluewaters Island, spanning 2.8km. Other proposed corridors include Mall of the Emirates Metro Station to Madinat Jumeirah in Umm Suqeim; OnPassive Metro Station to Alserkal Avenue and Times Square Centre in Al Quoz; and an internal network at Dubai Festival City that could eventually connect to the future Dubai Metro Blue Line.
As for when the pods will start appearing across the city, timelines have not yet been confirmed. If the initial trial delivers, expect Glydways to become another familiar feature of Dubai’s fast-evolving transport landscape.
GO: Visit www.rta.ae for more information.