UAE to partner with Tesla, push automatic driving cars

New Delhi : The United Arab Emirates has given an open offer to Tesla to join them in advancing the autonomous driving over the course of five years as the Gulf nation is trying to bolster its digital economy, A UAE minister said.

The government plans to hand out data that would be useful to driver-less cars to help incentivize start-ups, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence Omar Al Olama said in an interview with Bloomberg TV.

“Usually it costs a lot of money for them to collect all this data, but as a government we can collect it and then give it to them as an incentive to start up," Al Olama said.

Tesla Inc.'s Elon Musk had recently mentioned that they are keen on developing a technology that will make their cars self capable of driving on roads. Tesla and its competitors are “welcome to come and start in Dubai," Al Olama said.

Amid coronavirus pandemic, UAE's most companies have gone digital and are working towards reviving the economy via digital means.

“The traditional economy has been hammered but the digital economy has been thriving," Al Olama said.