RTA pens agreement to improve drone traffic network

Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the professional communication corporation NEDAA to improve Dubai’s drone network service, RTA announced.

According to officials, the MoU is part of a larger effort to use artificial intelligence to provide information on Dubai’s traffic patterns through drone-generated data.

“The MoU signed with NEDAA provides for RTA to coordinate between the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and NEDAA to fulfil the needs of obtaining the required clearance from the CAA,” said Abdullah Al Madani, the CEO of RTA’S Technology Support Services sector.

“RTA will also coordinate with NEDAA in developing as many uses as possible or pilotless planes along with the supporting network, besides ide notifying areas requiring service coverage.”

According to Al Madani, NEDAA will help RTA by mapping out time charts for carrying out tailor-made test projects and by generating analyses of traffic and 3D charts of relevance for RTA.

“The signing of the MoU underscores RTA’s keenness to cooperate with the parties concerned in keeping abreast of the UAE artificial intelligence strategy and addressing the needs of the Smart City initiative of our government,” he added. “The MoU also contributes to the achievement of the first strategic goal of ‘Smart Dubai’.”

In the past, NEDAA has demonstrated a number of potential uses for drones in urban environments, including for rescue and fire response operations and real-time road and traffic monitoring.