Dubai RTA targets AED 300 million in AI added value per year

Roads & Transport Authority moves half its work to AI agents

Nov 01, 2026

Dubai RTA Metro train (Image credit: WAM)

#UAE #AIStrategy - Dubai’s government roads and public transport body, the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), has launched an updated AI strategy targeting more than AED 300 million ($82m) a year in added value. It plans to move 50 percent of its operations and services to agentic AI, meaning systems that complete tasks themselves, within two and a half years. Targets include cutting congestion by up to 5 percent and accidents among new drivers by up to 20 percent. In phase one of its AI strategy the RTA developed and went live with eleven AI products.

SO WHAT? - RTA has announced some of its specific AI goals publically, so it is possible for the public and other stakeholders check the results. The metrics shared are also those that are meaningful to residents: congestion down by up to 5%, complaint handling times cut by up to 30%. Moving half its operations to AI agents in under three years is a an ambitious a public body, but this aligns with the sort of goals set by other leading public sector organisations this year.

KEY POINTS:

Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority’s has announced its updated AI strategy, spanning 41 areas across its agencies, sectors and departments. The first two implementation waves cover 11 business areas, including vehicle licensing, traffic, roads, public transport, customer happiness, procurement and human resources.
The authority plans to develop 40 AI products over two and a half years, plus four foundational projects. Eleven are complete: five in planning and business development, five in vehicle licensing and one in right-of-way. It has identified more than 180 use cases.
Service targets include cutting congestion by 3% to 5%, case and complaint processing times by 20% to 30%, and waiting times at Customer Happiness Centres by 14% to 16%. Service delivery times at those centres should fall by 15% to 20%.
Other targets include cutting accidents involving newly licensed drivers by 10% to 20%, procurement cycles by 10% to 15%, and operational and engineering working hours by 10% to 15%. One report says the congestion cut would save over five million driving hours a year.
RTA’s chatbot Mahboub is becoming an agentic system that completes transactions through the RTA app, website and WhatsApp. Customers can already complete five vehicle licensing services and use about 100 information services. Links to UAE PASS and Dubai Pay allow transactions in under five minutes.
RTA wants to double the speed of service delivery through Mahboub. It aims to raise the share of services delivered through the chatbot to 10% by the end of 2026 and 50% by the end of 2027.
An AI system for electronic No Objection Certificates, needed for work near RTA assets, aims to make the process three times faster. About 130,000 certificates are issued a year, with demand rising around 11%. RTA expects to save over 700,000 days a year and raise revenue 5% to 10%.
The RTA’s agentic AI auditor for vehicle licensing documents uses machine learning and optical character recognition to spot irregularities. Across seven priority services, it aims to be up to 21 times faster, check every document in scope and save over 25,000 hours of manual work a year.
The authority has also built an AI bus network planner, which uses about 20 AI agents to find service gaps and simulate options. The RTA also aims for fivefold faster analysis, bus service changes in 48 days instead of about 60, and on-time performance up to 10% better.
Microsoft Copilot use among RTA staff who have access exceeds 90%, saving 10% of working time. RTA has submitted 34 works for intellectual property registration and won the AI World Series 2026 Award. It built eight strategic initiatives with Chinese technology group Huawei, consultancy Boston Consulting Group and US software company Microsoft.

[Written and edited with the assistance of AI]

Source: RTA

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