News

Uber And WeRide Roll Out Driverless Robotaxis In Abu Dhabi

Yas Island becomes the first site where Uber offers fully autonomous rides outside the US, backed by Abu Dhabi’s city-level permit.

Published

10 months ago

November 26, 2025

Nour Nasir

uber and weride roll out driverless robotaxis in abu dhabi

Uber and WeRide have switched on fully driverless robotaxi services in Abu Dhabi, marking the first commercial rollout of Level 4 autonomous vehicles in the Middle East and the first market outside the US to host them on Uber’s platform.

The launch rests on a city-level permit issued by Abu Dhabi’s Integrated Transport Centre (ITC) and supported by local fleet operator Tawasul — a regulatory green light both companies say is rare outside the US. It follows a federal permit WeRide secured in late 2025, which authorized fully driverless commercial operations across the UAE subject to emirate approval.

Operations begin on Yas Island with no driving specialist required inside the vehicle. Expansion is slated across the capital through 2025, including districts already covered by earlier supervised pilots. Riders can request WeRide cars through Uber Comfort, UberX, or a new “Autonomous” category — Uber’s first dedicated self-driving option anywhere. “This milestone represents a major step toward the large-scale deployment of self-driving mobility solutions in the UAE,” the companies said in a recent press release.

The firms point to utilization gains, new licensing, and a maturing regulatory framework as signs that the service can reach breakeven. Their joint robotaxi partnership launched in 2024 and grew again in 2025 to cover about half of Abu Dhabi’s core areas, including Al Reem and Al Maryah. More coverage is planned for the city center by year-end.

Also Read: Aramco Installs Middle East’s First Industrial Quantum Computer

WeRide has operated in Abu Dhabi since 2021 and holds a national license authorizing autonomous testing and operations across public roads. The company now runs more than 100 robotaxis in the region, giving it a four-year head start in local deployment. Uber and WeRide both frame Abu Dhabi as a base for expanding to thousands of robotaxis across the Middle East.

The move strengthens the UAE’s push to embed autonomous mobility within its broader digitalization agenda and positions Abu Dhabi as a live test bed for commercial driverless transport.

News

Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon

Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.

Published

2 weeks ago

August 27, 2026

Dana Saadeh

visa's return to syria starts with a test and a bank in lebanon

Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.

The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.

Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes the first electronic payment in Syria using a @Visa card at a store in Damascus, following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. pic.twitter.com/lpAN7nQ6Fc

— Tech Magazine (@TechMGZN) August 27, 2026

“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.

Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.

Also Read: Lebanon’s 5G Era Begins With 150 Stations And A $1M Budget

The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.

Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.