Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has started the implementation of ‘Tech Taxi’ initiative to drive the digitisation of taxi services in Dubai. It involves providing free WiFi internet in Dubai taxis and a package of digital services to taxi riders. The digital services supports the smart city drive, which recently saw the launch of the e-hailing taxi service ‘Hala’ in conjunction with Careem.

“The initiative highlights RTA’s efforts to rank Dubai the smartest city worldwide. ‘Tech Taxi’ initiative provides free WiFi in all taxis enabling riders to connect to the service via WiFi UAE network using their smartphones,” said Khaled Al Awadi, Director of Transportation Systems at RTA’s Public Transport Agency.

“Once connected, the rider can log-on to ( www.taxiconnect.ae ) to access an array of digital services via options enabling communication with the driver using instant interpretation of the passenger’s language to the driver’s selected language displayed on the meter screen.

Tech Taxi initiative also enables the rider to track the path of the journey and share the map with his/her relatives or associates. An option briefs riders on the current market exchange rates for converting various currencies to UAE dirhams. The rider can click another option to rate the performance of the driver, and capture the taxi meter screen on his or her phone. Another icon was designed to measure the rider’s satisfaction/happiness with the service.

“This initiative is the first of its kind worldwide. It offers a range of consolidated digital services under one link. It epitomises the keenness of Dubai Government to realize the Smart City initiative as well as several strategic goals of RTA namely: Smart Dubai, People Happiness and Advance RTA,” concluded Al Awadi.