Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority will close three lanes of Emirates Road (E611) opposite Al Maktoum International Airport, along with the airport tunnel, every day from 9am to 4pm between Monday and Saturday this week, to make way for autonomous taxi testing.
The closures are the latest step in Dubai's push to expand driverless mobility, following the launch of the Dubai Mobility Labs testing facility in September. Companies trialling self-driving vehicles in the emirate include WeRide, Pony.ai, Tesla and Baidu, whose Apollo Go robotaxis began operating through Uber earlier this year.
Officials have urged motorists travelling near Al Maktoum Airport to plan alternative routes during the affected hours, warning that the temporary restrictions could cause congestion on one of Dubai's busiest arterial roads.
The trials form part of a wider strategy that aims to make a quarter of all journeys in Dubai autonomous by 2030. The emirate has positioned itself as a testing ground for a cluster of global robotaxi operators, betting that early, large-scale trials will cement its lead in autonomous transport over rival Gulf cities.
For residents, the closures are a reminder that the shift to driverless taxis is no longer theoretical: real vehicles are being tested on real roads, under real traffic conditions, with regulators adjusting infrastructure to accommodate the technology rather than waiting for it to mature elsewhere first.