Mashable: This is a part of Dubai’s green initiative.

In a first, Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has unveiled its trial of the first-ever, driverless electric abra on Sunday, reports Siasat and The National.

During its first operation, the abra journeyed from Al Jaddaf station to Festival City station on Dubai Creek, thus, making it the world’s first water trial of this nature for passenger transportation.

The abra is a traditional wooden boat and can carry about eight people across the canal. Manufactured by the Roads and Transport Authority’s Garhoud Marine Maintenance Center in Dubai, these newly designed abras are created in the hopes of a green future: to reduce carbon emissions as well as improve UAE’s self-driving transport goals.

It was manufactured locally at RTA’s Al Garhoud Marine Maintenance Centre, featuring a design that preserve the heritage identity of abras. pic.twitter.com/kHTdJzg2lJ

— RTA (@rta_dubai) May 14, 2023
According to Mattar Al Tayer, the director general of the RTA, this design is to help the emirates’ plan to increase the use of autonomous transport by 25 per cent by 2030. He revealed that the abras “boasts superb features highlighted by zero-carbon emissions, lower operating and maintenance costs by 30 per cent, and the elimination of noise compared to diesel-powered models.”

The boats house two electric motors and can hit seven knots [13kph] at the highest speed. Along with an autonomous control system, the marine vehicle includes four lithium batteries that can run up to seven hours. To reduce its weight, the new design employs fibreglass. While there is a captain on the ship, he will only intervene if needed.

Additionally, it can factor in wind and wave information and stick to the assigned routes. Its design also ensures that it can identify obstacles in its path, and inform the control centre if there are defects or deviations, the system also interferes if there are any challenges during the ride, and it is also programmed to cope with additional situations.

In order to reinforce Dubai`s smart and sustainable infrastructure of the transport network, The trial operation of the ‘First Autonomous Electric Abra’, Which is one of the world`s first marine trials in passenger transport. pic.twitter.com/zfTLj0ENe7

— RTA (@rta_dubai) May 14, 2023
"Marine transport ferried about 16 million riders in 2022. The plan includes the development of four traditional abra stations in Dubai Creek, namely Bur Dubai, Deira Old Souk, Dubai Old Souk and Al Sabkha Stations,” says Al Tayer.

Last month, the RTA announced five electric cars, which had a map of Dubai’s road to put the plan in motion for autonomous public transport in the UAE.