AI, autonomy, and redefining the next era of mobility
Interview with Dr. Fan Zhu
SVP, Autonomous Mobility, Space42
Mobile autonomy is often seen as futuristic and far-off. How is Space42 turning it into a reality in the UAE?
Space42 is making autonomy a reality in the UAE by deploying large-scale autonomous mobility systems that are safe, reliable, and scalable. Since 2021, we have logged nearly 600,000 kilometers of autonomous driving and completed 20,000 passenger trips with zero accidents through TXAI, our flagship robotaxi. What began as a pilot project now operates across Saadiyat Island, Yas Island, Al Maryah Island, Al Reem Island, and Abu Dhabi Airport.
This progress is powered by the broader system supporting each vehicle. A Digital Twin of Abu Dhabi, combined with real-time imagery, transforms every trip into data which strengthens the entire mobility network. The result is a service that delivers trust, efficiency, and consistency at scale.
The next leap comes from convergence. By fusing AI, Earth Observation, IoT, and geospatial analytics, Space42 is creating adaptive systems that reshape how societies move, connect, and grow. This is how autonomy shifts from promise to reality, and how technology becomes a force for societal transformation.
Public transport is often seen as the toughest test for autonomy. What does it take to make autonomous buses and shuttles work across entire cities?
Public transport is uniquely complex. Autonomous buses and shuttles must safely navigate interactions with cars, pedestrians, and emergency responders, while adapting to congestion, signals, and sudden road changes.
Success begins with clear regulations, strong testing frameworks, and insurance models that define responsibility and ensure safety. These safeguards build the trust needed for large-scale deployment.
Globally, cities are still in trial phases, investing in infrastructure such as Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) networks, high-precision positioning, and dynamic mapping. Authorities are also aligning service delivery with rapid innovation cycles, introducing new metrics to measure adoption and efficiency. Intelligent transport systems further enhance performance by optimizing routes in real-time matching passenger demand.
Together, these steps pave the way for safer, smarter, and more resilient urban mobility, turning today’s complexity into tomorrow’s opportunity.
Everyone talks about self-driving cars, but what’s the bigger, less visible transformation that’s actually shaping the future of mobility?
The vehicles we see on the streets represent only one layer of a deeply interconnected mobility network. The real transformation lies in the AI engines behind them, combining advanced models, fast computing power, and the ability to process vast streams of data.
Unlike humans, who learn to drive quickly, autonomous systems improve gradually. Their strength comes at scale, when AI evolves from piloting single vehicles to orchestrating entire fleets, ultimately reshaping how transportation and society itself function.
At Space42, our digital infrastructure makes this possible. From mapping engines and Digital Twins to sovereign mobility cloud environments, we are laying the foundation for agentic AI models that manage journeys end-to-end. By linking taxis, shuttles, buses, and charging networks into one intelligent system, fragmented transport becomes a unified network that predicts demand, adapts routes, and responds to change in real time.
When the stakes are highest, in defense missions or disaster response, how can autonomy make the difference between disruption and resilience?
Defense and disaster environments demand resilience under extreme unpredictability, whether it’s shifting terrain, damaged infrastructure, or life-saving missions. Autonomy makes the difference by enabling convoys to reroute around blockages, helping aid vehicles adapt to sudden changes, and keeping fleets coordinated in real time.
Space42 has already proven this in action. Our technology has supported end users across deserts, mountains, and maritime corridors. At the core is a fusion of AI coordination, remote control, and Digital Twin command centers that give decision-makers live situational awareness and the ability to redirect fleets instantly.
That’s why adoption in defense logistics and humanitarian response is advancing rapidly. By combining satellite reach with AI-driven decision making, Space42 equips operators with fleets that adapt immediately to evolving conditions, ensuring missions continue, even under the most challenging circumstances.
What makes the UAE such a powerful launchpad for next-generation mobility, and how is Space42 helping shape it into a global hub?
The UAE has become a global launchpad for next-generation mobility by placing AI at the center of its economic transformation. Guided by the National AI Strategy 2031, the country has paired bold vision with practical investment in infrastructure, governance, and institutions to turn ambition into deployment.
At the center is Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI), which anchors the nation’s talent pipeline and research base. Initiatives like K2 Think, created with G42, highlighting Abu Dhabi’s strength in AI R&D and its ability to translate insights into applied technologies. This ecosystem is reinforced by leadership from the Smart Autonomous Systems Council, the Integrated Transport Centre, Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO), and the Smart and Autonomous Vehicle Industries (SAVI) cluster, together defining roadmaps, enabling fleet integration, attracting innovators, and building sovereign capacity.
Within this framework, Space42 has been at the forefront since 2021, when it launched TXAI. Since then, we have expanded into HD maps, Digital Twins, and Sovereign Mobility Cloud, providing the backbone for intelligent mobility. By working with regulators, investors, and universities, we ensure innovation advances safely and at scale.
The result is an ecosystem where the UAE provides the vision and policy leadership, while Space42 delivers the operational and technological edge, together setting global benchmarks for mobility.
When you look at the next decade of autonomous mobility, what breakthroughs excite you most? Not just for vehicles, but for societies as a whole.
The next breakthrough will be the convergence of physical AI and agentic AI models. Generative AI has already proven its ability to create insights and content, but the real leap comes when discriminative models built to make context-aware decisions in the physical world are scaled. These models will allow machines to act with intelligence in complex, real-world environments.
Researchers point to Large World Models as the next frontier. Designed to manage real-world decision-making, they span applications from autonomous driving to humanoid robotics. They require vast data and compute power, holding the promise of navigating the unpredictability of physical and social systems in ways today’s AI cannot.
This convergence will define next-generation mobility. Agentic AI will orchestrate interactions, while physical AI executes them in the real world. Together, they will optimize daily life, planning multimodal journeys, coordinating human and AI agents, and ensuring societies move in safer, smarter, and more efficient ways.