These driverless pod vehicles are set to begin testing in Dubai

Car-booking app Careem now operates in more than 80 cities across 12 countries in the Middle East. *** It is growing its user base of six million at more than 30 percent a month. *** In June 2017, the company announced the rollout out of driverless electric pods in Dubai. *** They are part of a collaboration with the California-based NEXT Future Transportation. *** Careem said it hopes to begin testing by late 2017. *** In 2015, Dubai announced ambitions for a quarter of all journeys to be driverless by 2030. *** Careem’s driverless pods could revolutionize urban transport in the region. *** Passengers can be picked up on demand and dropped off to different locations. *** Pods can drive solo or attach to other pods so that passengers can transfer on the fly. *** But an operational roll-out with a limited size fleet is not expected for another four years.