Automotive
THE GCC IS SHAPING DEPLOYMENT OF MOBILITY TECHNOLOGY AT SCALE

By Rabih Haydar, Director of Partnerships EMEA, Autotech Ventures
Innovation is abundant across the global mobility landscape, but successful large-scale deployments are rare. Many markets remain stuck in pilot mode, testing promising technologies without the regulatory alignment, infrastructure readiness, or political will to move beyond experimentation. This is where the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) stand apart. Here, mobility tech are not confined to trials or press releases; they are being rolled out across cities, transport networks, and logistics corridors with real users and real impact. The region isn’t just talking the talk; it also walks the walk.
The GCC’s governments have made mobility a strategic priority, tying it directly to economic diversification, sustainability, and competitiveness. This enables faster decision-making and coordinated execution. Additionally, large-scale urban developments and national transport strategies provide the canvas to deploy technologies from end to end, rather than in isolation. For example, Dubai’s Smart Self-Driving Transport Strategy has set a target of having 25 percent of all trips autonomous by 2030, while Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 aims to have 15 percent of public transport vehicles autonomous by that year. As a result, the GCC is shifting the global mobility narrative. Instead of focusing solely on where technology is invented, it calls attention to where it is implemented, integrated, and scaled decisively.
Governments as platform builders
In mobility, impact is not defined by how advanced a technology is, but by how widely and reliably it is deployed. Only by successfully transitioning from experimentation to execution can a mobility project unlock real outcomes: reduced congestion, lower emissions, improved logistics efficiency, and better quality of life. By focusing on scale, the region is accelerating learning cycles, driving costs down, and creating real-world operating environments that technologies simply cannot replicate in small pilots.
What truly differentiates the GCC in mobility deployment is the role governments play, not merely as regulators, but as platform builders. Across the region, national and city-level authorities are setting clear long-term mobility agendas and backing them with capital, infrastructure, and execution capacity. This infrastructure‑first approach means that charging networks, digital platforms, dedicated lanes, ports, and logistics zones are often built ahead of demand, dramatically reducing friction for deployment.
Equally important is regulatory intent. Rather than reacting to new technologies, policymakers are designing frameworks that anticipate them, using sandboxes, pilot-to-scale pathways, and public procurement to accelerate adoption. Governments also act as anchor customers, creating immediate demand for solutions in public transport, logistics, and urban services. Many startups struggle to secure these elsewhere.
This level of coordination allows mobility tech to be deployed system-wide instead of in isolation. The result is faster commercialization, clearer unit economics, and generation of real operational data at scale. In an industry where fragmentation often slows progress, the Middle East’s government-led platform model is emerging as a powerful catalyst for execution.
Global Technologies, Local Scale
The GCC is successfully deploying global mobility tech at scale, from electric vehicles (EVs) and autonomous vehicles to drone logistics, while making room for competition to elevate the ecosystem.
Across the region, EV penetration doubled from roughly 2 percent to 4 percent between 2024 and 2025, making it among the world’s fastest-growing EV markets. The UAE leads the region with EV penetration of around 6 percent, while Saudi Arabia committed around $50 billion to EVs by 2030, including its homegrown EV brand, Ceer Motors. Chinese OEMs such as BYD, Geely, and MG have also rapidly captured market share in the region, rising from around 2 percent in 2019 to 15 percent in 2025. This influx of competitively priced, high-tech Chinese EVs, often adopting battery innovations and integrated software ecosystems, has accelerated regional electrification.
In Abu Dhabi, WeRide and Uber launched the Middle East’s first fully driverless Robotaxi service in November 2025, backed by the world’s first city-level permit for Level 4 autonomy. Operations are expanding to cover 70 percent of the city, with plans to deploy 1,200 robotaxis across Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Riyadh by 2027.
Innovation in drone logistics is also abundant in the GCC. UAE urban and industrial pilots are using drones to transport parcels, documents, and even medium-range cargo via VTOL drones with capacities up to 250 kg, supported by unified airspace platforms.
Where Deployment Becomes Advantage
Taken together, the GCC’s approach to mobility is creating a new center of gravity for the industry, defined by execution at scale. For founders, the region is a unique place where technologies can move quickly from pilot to real-world deployment, supported by infrastructure, regulation, and committed demand. This shortens the path to validation, revenue, and global relevance.
For investors, the opportunity lies in engaging early in markets where scale is not a future aspiration but a design principle. Companies that can prove they can perform in the GCC’s complex, high-demand environments are more likely to be competitive globally. And for policymakers, the challenge and the opportunity both lie in sustaining this momentum by continuing to enable open ecosystems, talent inflow, and cross-border scalability.
The future of mobility will not be shaped solely in labs or boardrooms, but in the city’s roads, where technology is deployed decisively and system-wide. Through the large-scale rollout of these technologies, driven by government infrastructure, regulatory foresight, and private-sector innovation, the GCC is going beyond just adopting global mobility tech and is now shaping it.
Automotive
ZEEKR SETS GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ TITLE WITH THE ZEEKR 7X AT YAS MARINA CIRCUIT, CELEBRATING FIVE YEARS OF INNOVATION

The Zeekr 7X has earned a Guinness World Records™ title for the tightest gap passed through whilst drifting an electric car, successfully passing through a gap with an astonishing clearance of just 25 centimetres.
The record was officially achieved at Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, showcasing the exceptional precision, stability, and dynamic control of the Zeekr 7X. The achievement demonstrates the advanced capabilities of Zeekr’s intelligent electric vehicle platform and reinforces the brand’s commitment to engineering excellence and innovation.
The Zeekr 7X’s record-setting performance is underpinned by a combination of advanced chassis engineering and intelligent vehicle control systems. Its front double wishbone suspension delivers exceptional steering precision and responsiveness, faithfully translating driver inputs into accurate vehicle movement. The high-output rear electric motor provides instant, precisely controllable torque, enabling smooth, sustained drifts while allowing fine adjustments to the vehicle’s direction through throttle modulation. Complementing these systems, the Sustainable Experience Architecture (SEA) provides exceptional body rigidity and a low centre of gravity, enhancing stability, balance, and driver confidence under extreme driving conditions.
The record attempt formed the centrepiece of Zeekr’s global celebrations marking its fifth anniversary. Since its launch in 2021, Zeekr has rapidly established itself as a premium intelligent electric mobility brand, continually pushing the boundaries of design, technology, safety, and performance. This latest Guinness World Records™ achievement reflects the brand’s relentless pursuit of innovation and serves as a powerful demonstration of the engineering excellence behind the Zeekr 7X.
“Achieving a Guinness World Records title is a proud milestone for Zeekr and a fitting way to celebrate our fifth anniversary,” said Mr. Mars Chen, Vice President of Zeekr. “The Zeekr 7X embodies our commitment to intelligent engineering, precision, and performance. This achievement demonstrates the strength of our technology and reinforces our ambition to continue redefining premium electric mobility through innovation.”
“This Guinness World Records™ achievement reflects the innovation, precision, and performance that define Zeekr,” said Roberto Colucci, Director of Electric Vehicles at AWR Automotive. “We’re proud to celebrate this milestone and to bring the intelligent technology and advanced engineering of the Zeekr 7X to customers across the UAE.”
The celebration continued on 13 June 2026, when more than 200 Zeekr owners, customers, partners, and members of the UAE media gathered at Yas Marina Circuit to commemorate both the world record achievement and Zeekr’s five-year journey. The event brought together the Zeekr community to experience the brand’s latest innovations and celebrate this landmark moment.
As Zeekr enters its next chapter, the company remains committed to accelerating the future of intelligent electric mobility through cutting-edge technology, exceptional craftsmanship, and customer-centric innovation.
Automotive
UDRIVE CUSTOMERS CROSS 45 MILLION KILOMETRES AS UAE DEMAND FOR CAR SHARING ACCELERATES
Udrive, the UAE’s leading car-sharing platform, has strengthened its mobility network across Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Ajman, as app-based car access becomes a bigger part of how people move across the country. In 2025 alone, Udrive customers have driven more than 45 million kilometres, reflecting rising demand for smarter urban mobility that aligns with the Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan’s focus on flexible means of transportation.
The growth reflects Udrive’s expanding role as a practical alternative to traditional car rental and private car ownership. The platform now operates a fleet of over 2,000 vehicles and has completed more than three million rentals to date. In 2025, Udrive recorded over half a million trips, while registrations grew by 14% compared with 2024, indicating stronger adoption among customers seeking on-demand access to vehicles.
Residents make up 90% of Udrive’s customer base, showing how car sharing has become part of daily commuting, errands, weekend plans and short-term transport needs. Retention has strengthened, with active customers for 12 months or more rising from 21% to 32%. Growth across shorter-term segments has also supported higher trip volumes and revenue, pointing to sustained adoption among both new and returning users.
Fleet choice has also expanded; Udrive now offers vehicles from Kia, Ford, BYD and MINI, with Toyota, Suzuki, Nissan and Mitsubishi also available on the platform. With the company’s ongoing partnership with AGMC, recent additions include MINI Cooper S and John Cooper Works models, the launch of MINI Convertibles. Udrive has also added hybrid BYD Song and BYD QIN vehicles to its fleet, offering customers premium, lower-emission mobility options.
“At Udrive, our growth is being shaped by customers who want access without the cost and commitment of ownership. Expanding across four emirates and growing our fleet gives residents and visitors the freedom to choose the right car for every journey. Stronger retention shows that flexible mobility is becoming part of daily life in the UAE, while supporting a more practical alternative to private vehicle dependency,” said Hasib Khan, Founder and CEO of Udrive.
As part of its wider network growth, Udrive has added new Business Zones in Dubai, Sharjah and Ajman, extending coverage across almost every area within its operating network. This gives customers more flexibility to pick up and end trips across key residential, commercial and lifestyle districts, supporting everyday journeys across the UAE’s major urban centres.
Through the Udrive app, customers can locate, book and unlock a vehicle in minutes, with flexible rental options by the minute, hour, day, week or month. The service is designed around convenience and transparency, with zero deposit, no paperwork, office visits or delivery fees, and inclusive benefits such as free fuel and parking.
As the UAE’s mobility needs continue to evolve, Udrive will focus on deeper coverage, stronger fleet variety, and partnerships that improve access to flexible transport across the country. The company’s growth strategy is centred on making shared mobility easier to use, more widely available, and more relevant to how residents move across cities every day.
The expanded Udrive network is now live on the app. Customers can open the map, find a nearby car, choose the rental option that fits their journey and start driving in minutes.
Automotive
Udrive customers cross 45 million kilometres as UAE demand for car sharing accelerates
Udrive, the UAE’s leading car-sharing platform, has strengthened its mobility network across Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Ajman, as app-based car access becomes a bigger part of how people move across the country. In 2025 alone, Udrive customers have driven more than 45 million kilometres, reflecting rising demand for smarter urban mobility that aligns with the Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan’s focus on flexible means of transportation.
The growth reflects Udrive’s expanding role as a practical alternative to traditional car rental and private car ownership. The platform now operates a fleet of over 2,000 vehicles and has completed more than three million rentals to date. In 2025, Udrive recorded over half a million trips, while registrations grew by 14% compared with 2024, indicating stronger adoption among customers seeking on-demand access to vehicles.
Residents make up 90% of Udrive’s customer base, showing how car sharing has become part of daily commuting, errands, weekend plans and short-term transport needs. Retention has strengthened, with active customers for 12 months or more rising from 21% to 32%. Growth across shorter-term segments has also supported higher trip volumes and revenue, pointing to sustained adoption among both new and returning users.

Fleet choice has also expanded; Udrive now offers vehicles from Kia, Ford, BYD and MINI, with Toyota, Suzuki, Nissan and Mitsubishi also available on the platform. With the company’s ongoing partnership with AGMC, recent additions include MINI Cooper S and John Cooper Works models, the launch of MINI Convertibles. Udrive has also added hybrid BYD Song and BYD QIN vehicles to its fleet, offering customers premium, lower-emission mobility options.
“At Udrive, our growth is being shaped by customers who want access without the cost and commitment of ownership. Expanding across four emirates and growing our fleet gives residents and visitors the freedom to choose the right car for every journey. Stronger retention shows that flexible mobility is becoming part of daily life in the UAE, while supporting a more practical alternative to private vehicle dependency,” said Hasib Khan, Founder and CEO of Udrive.
As part of its wider network growth, Udrive has added new Business Zones in Dubai, Sharjah and Ajman, extending coverage across almost every area within its operating network. This gives customers more flexibility to pick up and end trips across key residential, commercial and lifestyle districts, supporting everyday journeys across the UAE’s major urban centres.
Through the Udrive app, customers can locate, book and unlock a vehicle in minutes, with flexible rental options by the minute, hour, day, week or month. The service is designed around convenience and transparency, with zero deposit, no paperwork, office visits or delivery fees, and inclusive benefits such as free fuel and parking.
As the UAE’s mobility needs continue to evolve, Udrive will focus on deeper coverage, stronger fleet variety, and partnerships that improve access to flexible transport across the country. The company’s growth strategy is centred on making shared mobility easier to use, more widely available, and more relevant to how residents move across cities every day.
The expanded Udrive network is now live on the app. Customers can open the map, find a nearby car, choose the rental option that fits their journey and start driving in minutes.
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