Dubai Glydways
On board: No driverSmall driverless pods on their own narrow track, booked on demand like a taxi. RTA started a four-week trial at Bluewaters in Oct 2026.
What it is
Glydways builds networks of small electric pods that drive themselves on a narrow track of their own, about 2 m wide. The track can sit at street level or on light bridges. You book a pod for your trip and it takes you straight to your stop, without stopping at others on the way.
Each pod seats four to six people, reaches 50 km/h and goes up to 250 km on a charge. It carries 20 lidar sensors, plus radar and cameras. Riders can set the air conditioning and the screen. A control centre watches every pod.
RTA calls it an "automated transit network". It sits between a taxi and a metro: private like a taxi, on a fixed track like a train.
The Bluewaters trial
- Started: Oct 2026, with RTA Director General Mattar Al Tayer riding a five-minute loop at Bluewaters.
- Length: four weeks.
- Partners: RTA, Glydways, and Dubai Holding, which owns Bluewaters and built the test site.
- What RTA checks: safety, how reliable the pods are, trip times, how easy they are to use, and how smoothly they flow on the track.
RTA has not said whether the public can ride during the trial.
Where it could run
RTA is studying a 2.8 km first route from National Paints Metro Station (Red Line) to Bluewaters. Today that trip means a bus or a taxi.
Other routes under study link Metro stations with Madinat Jumeirah, Alserkal Avenue, Times Square Centre, Dubai Festival City, Jumeirah Village Circle, Business Bay and Mohammed Bin Rashid City. None has a date or a build plan yet. RTA says it will decide on more routes after the trial.
The map loads as you scroll to it.
RTA hasn't published the path, so the dashed line only joins the two ends.
Who is Glydways
Glydways is a US company, founded in 2016. Mark Seeger founded it and runs it as co-CEO with Blake Barber, who is also the CTO. It calls its pods Glydcars and its software Glydways OS.
It raised $170M in Apr 2026, in a round led by Suzuki, ACS Group and Khosla Ventures, with Mitsui Chemicals, Gates Frontier and Obayashi. Suzuki builds its next Glydcars.
Where else it is building
- Atlanta: its first public system, a 0.8 km track from the airport SkyTrain at the Georgia International Convention Center to Gateway Center Arena. Free rides are due from Dec 2026.
- San Jose, California: a link from the airport to Diridon Station. The city council moved it to its next study phase in Mar 2025.
- Abu Dhabi: the Abu Dhabi Investment Office signed with Glydways in Nov 2025 to study a first project, help write the rules, and set up a pod assembly plant.
Dubai's trial starts before Atlanta opens to the public.
What Glydways offers a city
- Pods, track design, control centre and software, as one system.
- A track about 2 m wide, so it fits beside roads or on light bridges.
- On-demand trips with no stops on the way, all day and night.
- Built for "first and last mile" trips: from a Metro station to your home, office or mall.
- Cities pay under a public-private deal. Dubai uses this model.
The big numbers, and what they mean
RTA quotes these figures from Glydways:
- More than 20,000 riders an hour in both directions
- Up to 90% lower build cost and up to 70% lower running cost than "similar" systems
- More than 10 pods driving as one convoy, less than one second apart
These are design figures. The trial is four weeks on one short test track, so it cannot show them yet. RTA did not name the systems it compares the costs with.
Glydways says 10,000 people an hour for each 2 m lane. That matches RTA's 20,000 once you count both directions.
Not the first pods in the UAE
- Masdar City in Abu Dhabi ran driverless pods from 2010 to 2017 and carried more than 2 million riders.
- RTA showed driverless pods from NEXT Future Transportation at the World Government Summit in 2018.
Glydways differs from both: its pods drive on their own track, with no rails, and it plans whole networks that feed the Metro.
The pod
Facts and sources
What's next
- Nov 2026The trial ends; RTA reviews the results
- No dateA decision on the National Paints to Bluewaters route and later routes
- No dateAbu Dhabi: first project site not yet named
What happened
- Nov 2025Abu Dhabi Investment Office partners with Glydways
- Feb 2026RTA and Glydways sign a deal to study the first routes
- Oct 2026Four-week trial starts at Bluewaters
Questions
Can I ride Dubai Glydways?
RTA has not opened rides to the public. The trial runs at Bluewaters for four weeks from Oct 2026.
Is it a monorail?
No. Pods drive themselves on a narrow track at ground level or raised. They don't run on a rail.
How many people fit?
Four to six per pod.
How fast is it?
Up to 50 km/h.
Will it connect to the Metro?
That is the plan. The first route under study links National Paints Metro Station with Bluewaters.
How much will it cost to ride?
RTA has not set a fare.
Who makes it?
Glydways, a US company. Suzuki builds its next pods.
Is it coming to Abu Dhabi?
Abu Dhabi signed a deal with Glydways in Nov 2025 to study a first project. No site or date yet.