WATCH: Dubai's driverless cars in action

The electrically powered pods travel at 20kph

Autonomous pods in Dubai? The city is testing them out

Autonomous pods in Dubai? The city is testing them out
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Tests for driverless transport pods are under way in Dubai.

The autonomous vehicles seat six with room for four more to stand, and are designed to travel short and medium distances in dedicated lanes.

Initial tests took place on the sidelines of the World Government Summit in Dubai in February. The project was developed by the Roads and Transport Authority in co-operation with Next Future Transportation.

The electrically-powered pods currently travel at 20kph but the RTA expect their top speeds to match those of the Dubai Metro or Dubai Tram when they are fully operational.

Dubai targets 25 per cent of all journeys to be self-driving by 2030. The goal was set after Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, launched the Dubai Smart Self-Driving vision in 2016.

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