The company that created the futuristic driverless pods operating underneath Masdar City in Abu Dhabi has secured a contract for a much larger, driverless bus network connecting Bluewaters Island to Dubai’s metro.
The joint venture 2getthere Middle East, between the Dutch automated transport firm 2getthere and the Abu Dhabi-based United Technical Services (UTS), is to deliver a 2.5km-long guided network from the Nakheel Harbour & Tower station over the new ramp on to Bluewaters Island.
“Fundamentally, advanced transit is the transportation of people (and goods) in a way that is superior to conventional transit,” says the Advanced Transit Association, an international non profit group of which 2getthere is a member.
Carel van Helsdingen, the chief executive of Utrecht-based 2gettthere, said the system it is developing for Bluwaters Island’s developer Meraas Holding will involve a network of 25 Group Rapid Transport (GRT) vehicles – each of which is capable of carrying 24 passengers per trip. He said the value of the contract signed was confidential.
Mr van Helsdingen told The National the system will be capable of carrying 2,500 passengers per hour in each direction.
“And it’s 20-hour operational – [there’s] only a four-hour shutdown.”
The system developed for Bluewaters is a point-to-point delivery network, but with an option to extend in the future. Vehicles have rapid-charge lithium-ion batteries that recharge at stations.
The GRTs will run on the new bridge link between Bluewaters Island and Sheikh Zayed Road, but will be separated by barriers from regular traffic. The network is due to become operational in late 2018/early 2019.
“It’s taken one and a half years for the whole engineering and design of the prototype. We’re starting to build the series for Dubai as of July, but two prototypes are already almost finished and we will test them in Utrecht,” he added.
The driverless vehicles will operate using the same method as the Masdar City pods, with a series of magnets embedded into the road network along the route. Mr van Helsdingen said that was a more accurate methods of operating than relying either on GPS satellites or laser-guided systems that can be affected by the weather. A magnetic reader under each vehicle measures the position of its vehicle every 50 milliseconds and adjusts its position accordingly.
Mr van Helsdingen’s company, 2getthere, has been operating automated people-moving vehicles since 1996, when a system was created to carry passengers from long-stay parking sites at Schipol Airport to terminal buildings. Before that, he had developed automated guided vehicles for moving containers around a terminal at the Port of Rotterdam.
“We’re talking about 20 years ago, whereas four or five years ago Google started to ring all of the bells and say, ‘We have autonomous vehicles’. I think we were the front-runner.
“But the problem with being ahead of your time is the market is not ready yet for it. You really have to survive and to prove that you can continue delivering until the market is there.”
The personal rapid transport (PRT) system underneath Masdar City was launched in 2010.
2getthere has also been running a GRT system linking Rotterdam’s metro station to a business park in the city for 12 years – a project that was recently renewed and extended.
Mr van Helsdingen’s company last year received a €4m (Dh15.7m) investment from the operator of Singapore’s metro and bus network, SMRT, for a 20 per cent stake in his company, while UTS upped its stake in the business to 11 per cent. He said a deal involving SMRT in Asia (although not in Singapore) for a 60-unit system is expected to be signed in September this year.
UTS’s chief operating officer Ziad Al Askari said its Middle East joint venture is “also working out in Qatar and Saudi Arabia” assessing other opportunities.
“There’s a lot of projects in the region that are under discussion,” Mr Al Askari said.
A study published by Bank of America Merrill Lynch last week on the future of transport argued that the US$7 trillion sector was “ripe for disruption”, with some developed countries like the United States already witnessing a decline in car journeys. It said vehicle miles travelled peaked in the US in 2005, and per capita ownership dropped by 6.3 per cent between 2006 and 2012.
Beija Ma, a thematic investing strategist at BofA Merrill Lynch’s global research unit, said the rising financial, social and environmental costs of car ownership were “unsustainable and demand a fundamental rethink of mobility”.
The same report also highlighted the UAE as a front-runner in driverless vehicles, citing Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai’s target for 25 per cent of all journeys to be driverless by 2030.
mfahy@thenational.ae
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ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
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RIDE%20ON
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How to turn your property into a holiday home
- Ensure decoration and styling – and portal photography – quality is high to achieve maximum rates.
- Research equivalent Airbnb homes in your location to ensure competitiveness.
- Post on all relevant platforms to reach the widest audience; whether you let personally or via an agency know your potential guest profile – aiming for the wrong demographic may leave your property empty.
- Factor in costs when working out if holiday letting is beneficial. The annual DCTM fee runs from Dh370 for a one-bedroom flat to Dh1,200. Tourism tax is Dh10-15 per bedroom, per night.
- Check your management company has a physical office, a valid DTCM licence and is licencing your property and paying tourism taxes. For transparency, regularly view your booking calendar.
DIVINE%20INTERVENTOIN
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What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
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COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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Company Profile:
Name: The Protein Bakeshop
Date of start: 2013
Founders: Rashi Chowdhary and Saad Umerani
Based: Dubai
Size, number of employees: 12
Funding/investors: $400,000 (2018)
Gothia Cup 2025
4,872 matches
1,942 teams
116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
2 Kuwaiti teams
Her most famous song
Aghadan Alqak (Would I Ever Find You Again)?
Would I ever find you again
You, the heaven of my love, my yearning and madness;
You, the kiss to my soul, my cheer and
sadness?
Would your lights ever break the night of my eyes again?
Would I ever find you again?
This world is volume and you're the notion,
This world is night and you're the lifetime,
This world is eyes and you're the vision,
This world is sky and you're the moon time,
Have mercy on the heart that belongs to you.
Lyrics: Al Hadi Adam; Composer: Mohammed Abdel Wahab
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
