Following Autonomous Week Abu Dhabi, which took place last month from November 11-15, the spotlight has shifted to how the emirate is translating autonomous mobility from pilot projects into real-world systems.

At the centre of that conversation is Masdar City, a purpose-built urban district that has evolved into one of the region’s most advanced testing grounds for autonomous and sustainable technologies. In this interview, Ahmed Baghoum, CEO of Masdar City, reflects on how the city’s free zone framework, the Smart and Autonomous Vehicle Industries (SAVI) cluster, and long-standing partnerships across government, academia, and industry are shaping Abu Dhabi’s autonomous trajectory.

From Masdar City’s early Personal Rapid Transit system to ongoing Level 4 vehicle testing and the recently announced Abu Dhabi Autonomous Vehicle Test Hub, Baghoum explains how Masdar City is helping convert ambition into deployment, while reinforcing the UAE’s economic diversification agenda and Net Zero by 2050 goals.

How does Masdar City’s unique blend of sustainable infrastructure, Free Zone framework, and the SAVI cluster integrate autonomous solutions into the wider Abu Dhabi community and support the UAE’s economic diversification?

Masdar City serves as a living testbed where autonomous mobility intersects with sustainable urban development and economic opportunity. Our Free Zone is home to over 2000+ organisations, and through the Smart and Autonomous Vehicle Industries (SAVI) cluster, we’re bringing together global manufacturers, academia, testing facilities, and R&D capabilities to transform the UAE’s autonomous transportation landscape. What sets us apart is our regulatory sandbox approach – we’ve created an environment where companies can move quickly from concept to street testing, with streamlined licensing that removes typical barriers to innovation. This isn’t just about testing vehicles – it’s about creating an entire ecosystem that supports the UAE’s vision for economic diversification and our Net Zero by 2050 Strategic Initiative.

Companies in our free zone benefit from 100% foreign ownership, zero import tariffs, and a strategic location just five minutes from Abu Dhabi International Airport, while simultaneously having access to real-world infrastructure for testing autonomous solutions.

What makes our approach unique is the integration. We’re investing strategically in six growth areas – AI, mobility, energy, space tech, agri-tech, and life sciences – and this interconnected approach means innovations in one sector naturally enhance others. When autonomous vehicle companies like Pony.ai, Archer Aviation, and WeRide choose Masdar City, they’re not just getting office space; they’re gaining access to a complete innovation ecosystem that includes partnerships with institutions like MBZUAI, access to The Catalyst accelerator, and proximity to key tenants like Siemens Energy, G42, and the Advanced Technology Research Council.

This accelerates their path to market while contributing to Abu Dhabi’s transformation into a knowledge-based economy anchored in sustainable innovation.

How do innovations nurtured within Masdar City and SAVI, from early PRT to Level 4 testing, translate into tangible, real-world benefits and improved quality of life for residents and businesses across Abu Dhabi and the UAE?

Our journey with autonomous vehicles began in 2010 when we introduced the Personal Rapid Transit system (PRT) – the world’s first on-demand autonomous electric transportation system in the MENA region. Over the years, our PRT system has carried over three million journeys with zero safety incidents, proving that autonomous technology can be both safe and practical in the UAE’s unique climate and conditions.

This 15-year track record as a living lab gives us something few places can offer: the ability to test under real UAE conditions – extreme heat, dust storms, humidity -in an actual functioning city rather than a closed track. This legacy of real-world testing has given us invaluable insights that we’re now applying to Level 4 autonomous vehicles.

Earlier this year, we introduced our Level 4 autonomous vehicle at the World Future Energy Summit, and by mid-year, we began Level 4 testing in partnership with Solutions+, a substantial leap forward.

These vehicles operate entirely independently within a 2.4km geofenced route connecting key locations, such as the Siemens building, My City Centre Masdar, and Central Park, providing invaluable insights that directly inform how autonomous vehicles can be deployed across Abu Dhabi and the wider UAE.

Beyond transportation, these innovations improve quality of life in multiple ways. Our master plan prioritises walkability through a car-free podium, strategic shading, and narrow streets oriented to catch prevailing winds – making Masdar City feel 5-10 degrees cooler than downtown Abu Dhabi. This design philosophy, combined with zero-emission autonomous vehicles, creates an urban environment where sustainable mobility enhances health, well-being, and productivity.

The proof of concept we’re conducting with Solutions+ allows us to monitor performance and adaptability before considering wider deployment across the emirate, ensuring that when autonomous vehicles scale beyond Masdar City, they’re ready to deliver real benefits to all Abu Dhabi residents.

How do Masdar City’s strategic partnerships (ADGM, AWS) and accelerators (The Catalyst) ensure autonomous innovations are commercially viable, address local challenges, and contribute to the UAE’s broader sustainability goals?

Our strategic partnerships and accelerators ensure autonomous innovations are commercially viable and aligned with the UAE’s sustainability goals by addressing the full innovation journey.

We start with The Catalyst, our clean-tech accelerator with BP, which invests in and nurtures startups developing sustainable solutions through mentorship, funding, and network access, while partnerships like Amazon Web Services provide the cloud infrastructure credits essential for data-intensive autonomous systems. What ties this together is our free zone infrastructure – integrated sensing networks and real-time data capabilities allow companies to validate their technologies in both controlled and open-road environments, moving from concept to commercial viability.

Collaborations with entities like Abu Dhabi Global Market support this by removing regulatory barriers through Common Law governance that attracts foreign investment.

We’ve also established strategic collaborations specifically for the mobility sector. Earlier this year, we partnered with BEEAH on green mobility and Flat6Labs to support MENA-based climate startups. Our pilot green hydrogen refuelling station with ADNOC demonstrates our commitment to zero-emission transport. We’re not just testing autonomous vehicles; we’re building the entire ecosystem – from charging infrastructure to regulatory frameworks to talent development – that makes sustainable autonomous mobility a commercially successful reality in the UAE.

How is Masdar City, through its Free Zone and collaborations with institutions like MBZUAI, actively cultivating and attracting talent in autonomous technologies, and how do these efforts benefit the Abu Dhabi workforce and economy?

Talent development is fundamental to our strategy, and having the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) – the world’s first graduate university dedicated to AI – based in Masdar City creates a direct pipeline between cutting-edge research and commercial application. MBZUAI’s focus on AI naturally supports autonomous vehicle development, from computer vision and sensor fusion to decision-making algorithms. This proximity between academia and industry means students and researchers can engage directly with companies in our SAVI cluster, working on real-world challenges rather than theoretical problems.

Our commitment to Emiratisation demonstrates how we’re building local capacity: in 2024, we achieved a 54.7 per cent Emiratisation rate alongside 31 per cent female representation, supported by enhanced training initiatives. Our Women Entrepreneurship Program has expanded opportunities for women-led businesses, while our special licensing packages for startups in AI, space tech, and mobility specifically target sectors crucial for autonomous technologies.

The impact extends throughout Abu Dhabi’s economy. Our Free Zone now hosts over 2000 organisations across our priority growth sectors, creating thousands of high-value jobs in AI, mobility, and related technologies. Further, we have partnered with ADIO to facilitate golden visas, attracting top global talent while ensuring knowledge transfer to the local workforce. This ecosystem approach means we’re not just attracting talent; we’re creating an environment where talent naturally develops, circulates, and contributes to building a diversified, innovation-driven economy.

Masdar City is a key partner in the newly announced Abu Dhabi Autonomous Vehicle Test Hub. Can you tell us about this initiative and what it means for the region’s autonomous mobility ambitions?

Last month, we announced the Abu Dhabi Autonomous Vehicle Test Hub – the first facility of its kind in the Middle East and North Africa – developed in collaboration with the Integrated Transport Centre, Space42, and Emirates Driving Company.

We’re building a world-class facility for testing, validating and certifying autonomous vehicles that strengthens our region’s ability to develop and approve safe autonomous mobility solutions. Phase one, covering studies and design work, is scheduled for completion by the end of 2026.

Central to this initiative is the ability to recreate real driving conditions across different environments – busy city streets, quieter suburban roads, and mixed-use areas – so autonomous vehicles can be thoroughly tested in scenarios they’ll actually encounter. The facility will be equipped with advanced monitoring and sensing technology that connects directly to Abu Dhabi’s transport management systems, ensuring these vehicles can operate safely and seamlessly within our existing infrastructure.

The hub will be a centre for training the next generation of engineers and specialists in autonomous technology, bringing together global companies, universities and researchers to collaborate and innovate together.

This is the Falcon Economy in action, accelerating the future of intelligent mobility and positioning Abu Dhabi as the region’s centre of gravity for smart transport across air, land and sea.

Looking ahead, what is Masdar City’s vision for positioning Abu Dhabi as a global leader in autonomous mobility, and what key initiatives are planned to solidify this leadership and extend its international impact?

Our vision for positioning Abu Dhabi as a global leader in autonomous mobility is rooted in Masdar City’s role as a pioneering sustainable urban community and a global testbed for innovation. The SAVI cluster is central to this, serving as a comprehensive ecosystem that connects academia, testing and certification areas, and R&D. We’re actively inviting manufacturers worldwide to test their Level 4 AVs in our integrated urban ecosystem, while our upcoming developments – MC2, The Link, and Connect Park – will integrate autonomous mobility from the ground up.

To extend our international impact, we leverage knowledge-sharing platforms and demonstrate transparent progress through initiatives like our ESG Report. We share our learnings globally through forums like Abu Dhabi Autonomous Week and the World Future Energy Summit. Masdar City serves as Abu Dhabi’s physical testbed, a real urban environment where our free zone framework provides regulatory flexibility and streamlined permitting that allows companies to move from testing to deployment faster than traditional environments.

Aligned with government vision, we offer OEMs, startups, and researchers the end-to-end infrastructure needed to validate their technologies.

The goal is straightforward: make Masdar City the proving ground where autonomous mobility solutions are tested, refined, and scaled, establishing Abu Dhabi as a key reference for cities integrating sustainable autonomous transportation.