RAKTA, RAK Properties to trial driverless vehicles at Mina

Ras Al Khaimah, UAE - Ras Al Khaimah Transport Authority (RAKTA) has signed a partnership agreement with RAK Properties to test driverless vehicles on the streets of Mina, the waterfront destination the developer is building in the emirate.

His Highness Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi, UAE Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Ras Al Khaimah, attended the signing, which came as RAKTA unveiled its emirate-wide Autonomous Mobility Framework together with an Autonomous Vehicle Sandbox.

Officials, government bodies, self-driving technology firms, universities and research centres were among the guests at the RAKTA-organised event. The ceremony was held on 30 October at the InterContinental Ras Al Khaimah Mina Al Arab Resort.

Under the deal, Mina’s neighbourhoods of homes and its mixed-use districts will become test grounds for self-driving vehicles. The two sides will also study how far these places can serve to evaluate new technology and smart transport, with every trial kept within the authority’s approved technical and regulatory rules.

According to RAKTA, the arrangement lets it see how driverless vehicles behave on real streets and learn what running them among homes and mixed-use buildings involves. What it learns will inform decisions on whether the vehicles can go into everyday service, with safety and the conditions of each location weighed.

H.E. Eng. Esmaeel Hasan Al Blooshi, Director General, put his name to the deal for RAKTA, and Sameh Muhtadi, Chief Executive Officer of RAK Properties, did so for the developer.

Al Blooshi said real-world testing is a key step in deciding whether self-driving technology is ready to be used in practice. Partnering with property developers, in his view, means new solutions can be tried in many kinds of urban district and checked as they run day to day, helping the authority consider how they might be used later within its approved technical and regulatory rules.

He added that the authority keeps working with partners to create more chances to trial and assess new transport technology on the ground. That work, he said, is meant to find possible uses for it while making sure safety and the character of each place where it runs are respected.

Sameh Muhtadi, Chief Executive Officer of RAK Properties, said: “Working together with our close partners at RAKTA for the Autonomous Vehicle Sandbox initiative is a unique opportunity to observe, monitor, and stress-test the very latest transport solutions as they are deployed across Mina’s expanding urban environment. Our Mina masterplan is creating a modern cityscape that will expertly cater to the needs of residents and visitors alike. In today’s fast-moving world, this means integrating with the newest technologies and developing the best services and future applications that will support people’s daily lives by making mobility more convenient and accessible than ever. RAK Properties is proud to provide the infrastructure expertise required to explore this exciting technology to its fullest potential.”

RAK Properties was one of 10 partners that signed with RAKTA that day, a group that also took in RAKEZ, Westwell, PixMoving and two universities.

At Mina, RAK Properties launched Nura on Raha Island at Downtown Mina in December 2025.

RAKTA also used the launch to extend its RoboTaxi testing to Al Dhait South. Those trials started on Al Marjan Island in early 2026, and the cars have since logged more than 21,000 kilometres.