Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority has launched a four-week trial of the Dubai Glydways automated transit system at Bluewaters, using autonomous electric vehicles supported by artificial intelligence and running on dedicated guideways rather than in general traffic. Mattar Al Tayer, director general and chairman of the authority, took a five-minute journey along the designated route to open the trial, after a technical briefing from Glydways founder Mark Seeger and the company's co-chief executive Blake Barber.

Each vehicle carries between four and six passengers and travels at speeds of up to 50 kilometres per hour with a range of up to 250 kilometres on a single charge. The pods use 20 high-resolution LiDAR sensors together with radar, high-definition cameras and autonomous driving systems, and are designed for round-the-clock, on-demand journeys directly between departure and arrival points.

The pilot is being delivered through a public-private partnership, with Bluewaters, a Dubai Retail destination under Dubai Holding, providing the field-testing environment, the infrastructure and operational support. The authority said it will assess vehicle and system performance, the readiness of autonomous driving, sensing, communication and control systems, safety and reliability, and passenger experience, and will use the resulting data to weigh future expansion. Planned corridors under study include a 2.8 kilometre link between National Paints Metro Station and Bluewaters, alongside proposed routes serving Jumeirah Village Circle, Dubai Festival City, Business Bay and Mohammed Bin Rashid City. Fares, public access to the trial and a commercial launch date were not announced.