UAE
Dubai adds Dh5 booking fee for driverless taxi rides
The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has introduced a new charge for its Cruise driverless taxi service, layered on top of the standard metered fare.
Dubai residents using the RTA's driverless taxi service, operated by Cruise, will now pay a Dh5 booking fee for each ride. This fee is in addition to the regular taxi fare, which is calculated based on distance and time, affecting all users booking rides through the dedicated app.
Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has updated the fare structure for its autonomous taxi service. Users will now be charged a flat Dh5 booking fee for every driverless ride booked, in addition to the standard metered fare for the journey. The service, operated in partnership with US-based autonomous vehicle company Cruise, currently runs in specific areas of the city, including Jumeirah and Downtown Dubai. This new charge marks a shift from the initial pilot phase and standardises the cost for users of the next-generation transport. ## What is changing? A new, non-waivable booking fee of AED 5 is now applied to every trip taken in an RTA driverless taxi. This is not a flat fare for the ride itself but an administrative charge for booking the autonomous vehicle. The total cost of a trip is now calculated as: - **Standard Taxi Fare:** A base fare plus a per-kilometre rate, identical to a standard RTA taxi. - **Booking Fee:** A fixed AED 5 charge added on top of the metered fare. This change brings the driverless service’s pricing model closer to other ride-hailing apps, which often include similar booking or service fees. ## Who this applies to This fare update applies to…