Bayanat AI, a provider of AI-powered geospatial and smart mobility, and autonomous vehicle (AV) technology firm Oxa are working together to develop and deploy self-driving cars in the UAE.

This collaboration is supported by the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) under its Smart & Autonomous Vehicle Industry (SAVI) cluster.

The partnership was officially inaugurated during a visit by a delegation from Abu Dhabi-based Bayanat and ADIO to Oxa’s headquarters in Oxford, UK. The collaboration will leverage Bayanat’s AI-powered geospatial analytics capabilities and expertise in running autonomous vehicles alongside Oxa’s autonomous vehicle technologies to create innovations for smart cities and autonomous transportation systems.

The SAVI cluster was launched in 2023, creating a smart and autonomous vehicles hub to promote contributions across air, land and sea mobility applications. SAVI supports innovation and the commercialisation of smart and autonomous vehicle technologies in the UAE, unlocking their global potential by providing facilities and value-added services within an enabling regulatory environment.

The partnership between Bayanat and Oxa, endorsed by ADIO, is designed to create a regional powerhouse for developing and advancing autonomy across multiple verticals.

A key outcome of the collaboration will be to explore the creation of an autonomous mobility centre of excellence, which will benefit from deep links across Abu Dhabi’s regional ecosystem. The partnership also looks to promote the hiring and nurturing of local talent including software, hardware and operations engineers, data scientists, legal professionals, and general support staff. This will be supplemented with Oxa’s academic network, and its work with local academics and universities such as Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (mbzuai.ac.ae) in Abu Dhabi, on various topics, from future visions to engineering and entrepreneurship.

Bayanat and Oxa are also looking into creating services in the sector supported by an advisory board formed from UAE industry representatives, along with representatives from Oxa.

“This collaboration with Oxa marks a significant milestone in our journey towards revolutionising transportation and smart cities,” said Hasan Al Hosani, managing director of Bayanat (www.bayanat.ai). “By combining our expertise in geospatial analytics and operational capabilities in AV with Oxa’s leadership in autonomous vehicle technology, we are poised to enhance mobility, safety and efficiency in urban areas.”

Gavin Jackson, CEO of Oxa (oxa.tech), added: “As a B2B company, we look for partners who have the vision and capabilities to help us bring our world-class autonomy to a wide range of companies, and Bayanat and ADIO are those partners. Using the knowledge gained from our existing commercial deployments in the USA and Bayanat’s technical capabilities and deep relationships throughout the GCC, we expect to accelerate the adoption of autonomy across multiple use cases. We are also excited about the strong technical talent pool in the region, fostered by the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence and SAVI, both of which will help us further develop our strong cohort of highly-skilled engineers, including at our planned base in Abu Dhabi.”

Ad Nayef Shahin, director of innovation at ADIO (www.investinabudhabi.ae), said: “When ADIO launched the SAVI cluster last year, our objective was to create a platform in Abu Dhabi that would connect the greatest global and local mobility innovators to pioneer new exciting pathways for the future of land, air and sea transport. I’m proud to say that the Oxa-Bayanat collaboration is proof of this objective coming to life, where both entities will combine capabilities in autonomous vehicle technology to create advancements that will deliver real-world impact across our urban environment.”