Abu Dhabi, the capital of United Arab Emirates, has begun operating a bus-rapid transit system with a couple of twists. First, the buses are gigantic: with two trailers (illegal in most U.S. cities), they can easily hold 200 passengers and squeeze in 240. Second, they will be completely automated despite using existing infrastructure. Some videos show a driver at the wheel, but I presume this was solely during a trail period.
The battery-powered buses operate over a 27-kilometer route with about one station per kilometer. The city of Abu Dhabi consists of several islands, and the buses connect Abu Dhabi island with Yas Island, a major tourist center. Because the buses are oriented around tourists, for now they only operate on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.
These aren’t the first autonomous buses used in Abu Dhabi. In 2018, the city began operating 12-passenger driverless shuttles in the business district known as Masdar City. A company called TXAI is also operating a number of driverless taxis in the city.
Another Abu Dhabi innovation is an on-demand bus service using small buses. This service began operating during the pandemic, but appears to have continued since then. Fares are AED2, or about 55¢.
It isn’t clear that all of these services are yet viable. However, it is nice to see some city around the world experimenting with innovative forms of transit that don’t require billions of dollars of dedicated infrastructure that can’t be moved when travel habits change.
Why does a country that has roughly 100 billion barrels of proven oil reserves and produces 3.2 million barrels of petroleum a day, use batteries to power its buses?
For the same reason that I use a flashlight instead of a kerosene lantern — cleaner, simpler, safer, more reliable.
The same reason that warehouses use battery-powered forklifts — cleaner, simpler, safer, more reliable, charge on-site. And they’re quieter.
The limiting factor for many electric vehicles is availability of power and time to charge. Buses that operate on a schedule and spend all night in a garage are ideal use-cases.
A job for every tool and a tool for every job.