UAE Approves Federal Rules for Self-Driving Cars: One Regime for Registration, Licensing and Testing Across All Seven Emirates

2026-09-03

On 2 September 2026 the UAE Cabinet, chaired by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum at Qasr Al Watan in Abu Dhabi, approved a resolution regulating the use of autonomous vehicles across the United Arab Emirates. According to the Government of Dubai Media Office, the resolution establishes mechanisms and controls for inspecting, registering, licensing and renewing the licences of autonomous vehicles and introduces operational procedures for testing new vehicle technologies. It is the federal layer that Federal Decree-Law No. 14 of 2024 on Traffic Regulation, in force since 29 March 2025, left to a Cabinet decision. Until now the rules were written emirate by emirate: Dubai under Law No. 9 of 2023 and its implementing bylaw of November 2025, Abu Dhabi through the Integrated Transport Centre, which licensed the region’s first fully driverless commercial robotaxi service in November 2025 and introduced blue “Auto Drive” number plates in July 2026, and Ras Al Khaimah under Law No. 1 of 2026. Dubai’s target is for 25% of all trips to be autonomous by 2030, and fully driverless Apollo Go robotaxis have been bookable on Uber in Jumeirah and Umm Suqeim since 20 August 2026.

What the Cabinet approved on 2 September 2026

The autonomous vehicles resolution was one item on a long agenda at the first Cabinet meeting of the new government season. In the official summary, the decision is framed as support for “futuristic projects” and the regulation of modern technologies. Its stated scope is fourfold:

• Inspection. Mechanisms and controls for the technical inspection of autonomous vehicles.
• Registration and licensing. Rules for registering autonomous vehicles, licensing them and renewing those licences.
• Testing. Operational procedures for testing new vehicle technologies on UAE roads.
• Policy goals. Encouraging alternative and environmentally friendly technologies to reduce road pollution and traffic congestion, and improving road safety.

Khaleej Times, which reported the decision as a federal law, adds that the text spells out what vehicle agents, operators and passengers must do and defines the responsibilities of federal and local government authorities. The practical effect is one set of rules for self-driving cars across all seven emirates, with local authorities keeping their role in day-to-day operations. The full text has not yet been published; the operative details available today are those in the Cabinet statement.

The same meeting launched the Cabinet AI Advisor, a system of 32 specialised AI advisors that analyse policies and legislation before they reach ministers, approved an AI curriculum for all public and private schools together with a programme to train 22,000 teachers, and reviewed a year of digital government: more than 308 million digital transactions, 15.8 million app downloads across 1,633 services and 92% customer satisfaction for priority services. Sheikh Mohammed’s opening message to government teams set the tone: “we do not wait for the perfect conditions to continue delivering… The UAE does not stop, and it will not stop.”

Why a federal layer was needed

Autonomous vehicles have been on UAE roads for years, but under a patchwork of instruments. In July 2023 the Cabinet granted WeRide the country’s first national preliminary licence to test self-driving vehicles. Federal Decree-Law No. 14 of 2024 on Traffic Regulation, which replaced the 1995 traffic law and took effect on 29 March 2025, brought self-driving vehicles into federal traffic law for the first time and left the detailed conditions for inspecting, registering and licensing them to a later Cabinet resolution. That resolution is the one approved on 2 September 2026. In parallel, three emirates built their own regimes.

A company that wanted to run the same vehicle in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Ras Al Khaimah therefore faced three licensing conversations with three regulators, each with its own technical standards. The federal resolution does not abolish the emirate-level regimes, which continue to govern operations on local roads, but it gives them a common base for the vehicle itself: how it is inspected, how it is registered, how its licence is issued and renewed, and how new technology is tested before it carries passengers.

Dubai: 25% of trips autonomous by 2030

Dubai set its target a decade ago: the Dubai Self-Driving Transport Strategy calls for 25% of all trips in the emirate to be made by autonomous vehicles by 2030. Law No. 9 of 2023 made the RTA the licensing authority and stipulated that no autonomous vehicle may operate on public roads without an RTA licence. Its implementing bylaw, Administrative Resolution No. 939 of 2025, was issued on 24 November 2025 and, as reported by Gulf News, defines six categories of autonomous vehicle, eight conditions for obtaining and renewing an operator licence, ten technical and safety requirements and fourteen operator obligations, including comprehensive UAE insurance and an electronic system that stores vehicle movements and maintenance history.

Operations followed quickly. On 5 February 2026 Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, launched the official operations of the driverless taxi service by riding a fully autonomous Baidu Apollo Go RT6 to the World Governments Summit. The RTA said the first 100 RT6 robotaxis would be deployed in 2026, with the fleet to grow to more than 1,000 vehicles in the coming years, and Apollo Go opened its first international operations centre outside China at Dubai Science Park. On 20 August 2026 Uber announced that fully driverless Apollo Go vehicles were available to riders in selected parts of Umm Suqeim and Jumeirah: a rider requesting UberX or Uber Comfort may be matched with one, or can pick the “Autonomous” option in the app. Freight is on the same track: Dubai’s Autonomous Logistics Lab plans a rollout by the end of 2027, and the emirate’s public transport network, which carried 348 million riders in the first half of 2026, is the demand base that the robotaxi fleets are meant to plug into.

Abu Dhabi: the region’s first fully driverless commercial service

Abu Dhabi moved first on driverless commercial operations. According to Uber and WeRide, WeRide secured a federal permit in October 2025 to run fully driverless robotaxi commercial operations, and the Integrated Transport Centre then granted WeRide and its local partner Tawasul the first operational licence for a fully driverless commercial robotaxi service in the emirate. Public operations without a vehicle specialist on board began on 26 November 2025 on Yas Island, with Al Reem and Al Maryah next. Gulf News reported in February 2026 that more than 120 Level 4 vehicles from two operators, WeRide and Autogo-K2 with Apollo Go, were running without safety drivers and covered around half of Abu Dhabi’s main urban areas, monitored in real time by the ITC.

On 13 July 2026 Abu Dhabi Mobility introduced the first dedicated number plates for autonomous vehicles: a unified blue design labelled “Auto Drive” for commercial autonomous services and “Test” for vehicles in pilot programmes, so that drivers, traffic officers and emergency responders can identify a driverless vehicle at a glance. The federal resolution now gives these emirate-level permits and plates a national registration and licensing framework to sit inside.

What the federal rules mean for business

The decision matters well beyond the robotaxi operators themselves. The categories of company that will work under the new rules include:

• Autonomous vehicle operators (robotaxi, shuttle, freight and delivery fleets), which will register and license vehicles under federal mechanisms and operate under emirate permits.
• Manufacturers and their agents, whose obligations the text reportedly defines, from certification of the vehicle to after-sales responsibility.
• Technology and testing companies, which get a federal procedure for trialling new vehicle technologies instead of negotiating a bespoke test permit in each emirate.
• Logistics, delivery and mobility platforms that plan to add driverless vehicles to their fleets, and the insurers, leasing companies and workshops that serve them.

Checklist for a company planning to bring autonomous vehicle technology to the UAE:

• Choose the jurisdiction for the operating entity with the target emirate’s regulator in mind: RTA in Dubai, the Integrated Transport Centre in Abu Dhabi, RAKTA in Ras Al Khaimah, in addition to the federal registration and licensing layer.
• Select licence activities that cover the actual business model (passenger transport, freight, technology development, testing) and budget for the regulator approvals attached to them.
• Prepare the technical file early: manufacturer certificates, compliance with UAE and Gulf standards, insurance cover and the data systems that Dubai’s bylaw already requires.
• Plan for a UAE corporate bank account before the first vehicle arrives; regulators, insurers and partners will expect local payments.
• Line up work visas for engineers, safety operators and fleet managers, since deployments in Dubai and Abu Dhabi have moved from pilot to commercial within months.

How Atlant Capital can help

Atlant Capital works with technology and mobility companies that are setting up their presence in the UAE. We handle company setup on the mainland and in UAE free zones, including the choice of jurisdiction and the licence activities that match an autonomous vehicle, fleet or technology business; corporate bank account opening, with the compliance file prepared in advance; and work visas and residence permits for the founders and the team. Bookkeeping, VAT and corporate tax filings are handled by licensed accounting firms from our partner network.

Conclusion

On 2 September 2026 the UAE moved from three emirate-level regimes for autonomous vehicles to one federal framework for inspecting, registering, licensing and testing them, on top of a traffic law that has recognised self-driving vehicles since 29 March 2025. The timing follows the market: fully driverless commercial robotaxis have run in Abu Dhabi since November 2025 and in Dubai since February 2026, Ras Al Khaimah has had its own law since January 2026, and Dubai’s target of 25% autonomous trips by 2030 is now less than four years away. For companies in the sector, the question is no longer whether driverless vehicles are allowed in the UAE, but how quickly a licence, a bank account and a team can be put in place.

FAQ

What did the UAE Cabinet approve for self-driving cars on 2 September 2026?

The Cabinet, chaired by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum at Qasr Al Watan, approved a resolution regulating the use of autonomous vehicles in the UAE. It establishes mechanisms and controls for inspecting, registering, licensing and renewing the licences of autonomous vehicles and introduces operational procedures for testing new vehicle technologies, with the stated aims of reducing road pollution and congestion and improving road safety.

Does the federal resolution replace Dubai’s and Abu Dhabi’s own rules for autonomous vehicles?

No. Dubai’s Law No. 9 of 2023 with its implementing bylaw of 24 November 2025, Abu Dhabi’s permits from the Integrated Transport Centre and Ras Al Khaimah’s Law No. 1 of 2026 continue to govern operations on local roads. The federal resolution adds a common national layer for inspecting, registering, licensing and testing the vehicles themselves, as foreseen by Federal Decree-Law No. 14 of 2024 on Traffic Regulation.

Where can you already ride a fully driverless taxi in the UAE?

In Abu Dhabi, WeRide robotaxis have operated commercially with nobody on board since 26 November 2025, starting on Yas Island and bookable through Uber. In Dubai, official operations of Baidu Apollo Go RT6 robotaxis were launched on 5 February 2026, and since 20 August 2026 fully driverless Apollo Go vehicles have been available on Uber in selected areas of Umm Suqeim and Jumeirah.

What is Dubai’s target for autonomous transport?

The Dubai Self-Driving Transport Strategy aims for 25% of all trips in the emirate to be autonomous by 2030. The RTA plans to grow the Apollo Go RT6 robotaxi fleet from the first 100 vehicles in 2026 to more than 1,000 in the coming years, and Dubai’s Autonomous Logistics Lab targets a rollout of driverless freight solutions by the end of 2027.