The Dubai Taxi Corporation announced a new system on Sunday that will utilize artificial intelligence (AI) and robotic process automation (RPA) technologies to increase the navigational efficiency of its fleet.

The new system will analyze data on a forecast system and automatically direct taxis to the most in-demand locations in Dubai, reducing fuel consumption and increasing the number of journeys per vehicle.

Mattar Al Tayer, director-general (DG), and chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), explained: “The approved projects include robotic process automation (RPA), which will improve the operational efficiency of vehicles by three per cent, increase the accuracy of data and forecast of areas with the highest demand by 10 per cent, cut the trip time and increase the percentage of productive kilometres. It will also increase the rate of trip acceptance by 15 per cent, and reduce the cost of human resources by 20 per cent.”

He added: “The portfolio of projects includes deploying the ‘Smart Distribution’ of taxis and Tesla vehicles system, automating the collection of daily revenues of limousine services (Uber and Careem), undertaking preventive maintenance measures for taxis, distributing booking requests according to the capacity of the battery of Tesla vehicles, and sending notifications to drivers when batteries are due for charging.”

With the introduction of the new system, 236 newly deployed school buses comprising 52-seater and 36-seater categories and a number of Tesla Model 3 vehicle have been added to the fleet. The buses are equipped with the latest security tools, including indoor and outdoor cameras, a student inspection system, motion detectors, and an automatic fire extinguishing system.

Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) also recently announced the ‘Click and Drive’ initiative, a project that helps customers with a variety of activities, ranging from “reengineering” their journeys to helping them obtain driver’s licenses.