The smart transportation revolution is reshaping Middle Eastern cities

The global mobility service industry is predicted to rise to U.S.$40.1 billion by 2030 from a paltry U.S.$3.3 billion in 2021, while the value of the smart building market is expected to virtually quadruple to U.S.$229.1 billion by 2026 from U.S.$82.6 billion in 2020.

Solar panel installers, battery producers, artificial intelligence (AI) platforms that optimise energy usage, and water reuse enterprises all stand to benefit from the smart building market's increasing demand for green technology.

In addition to the present standalone solutions, businesses that are able to integrate smart mobility platforms into ecosystems would gain from the transformation push.

Services including electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure, infotainment and linked vehicle services, and parking management systems all fall under the umbrella term "mobility as a service" (MaaS).

All smart mobility services need HD mapping data, low-latency navigation, and real-time traffic updates to ensure their users' safety and productivity. Better mobility experiences can be achieved when businesses join ecosystems to gain access to data generated and exchanged by partners.

UAE smart mobility evolves with sustainability

Smart mobility has taken over the landscape with clever concepts that are altering the social infrastructure of the region six years after the Dubai Roads and Transportation Authority lay the groundwork for driverless vehicles by 2030.

Smart mobility, including autonomous shuttles, e-bikes, and e-buggies, is poised to take control of the roadways in sustainable cities as a result of the shift.

Sharjah Sustainable City is a model of efficiency and sustainability in urban planning for private residences. This green idea is powering a net-zero energy community where eco-friendly villas with low energy bills are available to anyone.

Solar-powered smart homes, bio-domes for vertical farming, electric vehicle chargers, driverless shuttles, and a biogas plant are just some of the cutting-edge environmentally friendly technologies that will be available in the sustainable city developed by Sharjah Investment and Development Authority in collaboration with Diamond Developers.

“We have to do our part because the United Arab Emirates is the first country in the Gulf Cooperation Council to commit to net-zero by 2050,” as stated by Karim El-Jisr, chief sustainability officer, SSC.

El-Jisr noted that the bottom of the pyramid represented soft mobility, which included those who walked or rode bicycles to work. With this in mind, the SSC master plan constructed highways with no zebra crossings.

All 1,250 villas in SSC are conveniently located away from any zebra crossings or traffic lights. "Those villas could be linked by foot for residents and guests," El-Jisr explained.

The third tier of the pyramid saw the introduction of shared electric buggies and butler services.

Residents can reserve a buggy through the concierge service using their mobile devices. He also noted that the concierge service's capacity might be expanded in the event of rising demand.

Electric vehicles were displayed at the very top of the pyramid, and SSC will promote making the conversion from petrol to electric vehicles.

“We will install charging stations at various locations across the complex. According to El-Jisr, there will be 80 charging stations in the neighbourhood, making it the project with the highest density of charging points in the GCC,” he added further.

To assess whether or not to implement them, the sustainable city is also looking into the Dubai autonomous shuttle trials.

The arrival of anonymous transport

There's more to the tale. The sustainable transportation business ION in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) launched the country's first driverless shuttle service in December 2017 along Ajman's Corniche.

Between the Fairmont and the Coral Beach Hotels on the Ajman Corniche, the driverless shuttle makes use of a public route. Bee'ah, a sustainability pioneer in the Middle East, partnered with Crescent Enterprises of Sharjah to form ION.

Bee'ah's Director of Sustainable Mobility, Nasir Al-Shamsi, said that in addition to deep learning technology, the autonomous shuttle is also fitted with 3D vision, automatic routing, navigation, IoT sensors for optimal safety, and motion sensors to open and close doors.

The autonomous shuttle is able to sense its surroundings and sound an alarm anytime it approaches a pedestrian crossing thanks to information received from traffic lights and signals.

The shuttle can accommodate up to 15 people at once and is handicap accessible to boot.

About half of Dubai's population does not own a car and relies heavily on public transport, according to Al-Shamsi, who also argued that autonomous vehicles are safer than human-driven ones because a human driver could make a mistake that leads to an accident.

Human mistake accounts for about 90% of all accidents in the United Arab Emirates. That percentage, when converted to money, is worth billions of UAE dirhams. He emphasised the impact that this loss would have on the economy.

Al-Shamsi claims that the corporation is also considering introducing drone delivery solutions outside the line of sight, which might eventually lead to the delivery of items between buildings.

In conjunction with the Sharjah Civil Aviation Department, the company is now conducting tests of the system in preparation for the upcoming maiden trial.

Bee'ah is investigating the feasibility of introducing micro-mobility mechanisms like electric bikes and scooters.

Biking with no impact on the environment

With the installation of 175 stations beginning in the next month, Dubai's Careem Bike will surpass all others as the largest docked, pedal-assisted bike-share system in the world.

The business began its 15-year cooperation with the Road and Transportation Authority of Dubai by introducing 800 e-bikes and 80 stations throughout the city.

"We just exceeded 2 million trips and about 10 million kilometres in the distance travelled, displacing about 450 cars in the city in terms of CO2 emissions," Sami Amin, senior director of operations, Careem Bike, told media. The company also plans to expand to 3,500 bikes and 350 stations.

The roadways in Dubai, like those in most Middle Eastern cities, are not constructed with bikes in mind. However, RTA is committed to making this region the world's most bicycle-friendly metropolis.

The company is investigating driverless vehicles, delivery robots, and other electrified vehicles with a clear focus on sustainable mobility. "Sustainability is the key to our success," Amin remarked.

Sustainable urban planning, vehicle reduction, and the introduction of micro-mobility will make local areas more inviting by lowering transportation costs, increasing accessibility, and lessening environmental impact. Communities are the key to smart mobility.

Saudi NEOM knocking a sustainable punch

Plans to create the world's most user-centric, ecologically friendly, and technologically advanced land mobility ecosystem are now underway in Saudi Arabia as part of the NEOM smart megacity project.

NEOM's goal is to prioritise active, autonomous, electric, shared, and smart mobility alternatives, in addition to introducing a new paradigm for urban sustainability driven by 100 percent renewable energy.

Along with urban air mobility and a high-speed underground transport system, on-demand urban passenger mobility will be provided by shared autonomous and electric shuttles. NEOM's goal is to be the first carbon-free zone in the world by eliminating the need for vehicles and conventional roadways.

The project also intends to create a smart water distribution network, which, according to NEOM, will reduce water loss to below 3 percent, as opposed to the 30 to 60 percent often seen in cities with ageing infrastructure and consequently undetected leaks.

In other parts of the kingdom, intelligent mobility is also progressing. Both a multibillion dollar public transit project featuring driverless trains and an AI-based adaptive signalling technology are currently under construction in the Saudi city of Riyadh.