Dubai’s public transport, shared mobility, and taxis carried 747.1 million riders in 2024, averaging over 2 million trips per day, according to a new report.
Of 153 million trips, taxis accounted for over 115 million, with shared mobility contributing approximately 32 million, highlighting strong app-based, point-to-point demand, said the 2025 Mobility Report from Yango Drive, the car rental service and part of the global tech company Yango Group.
Dubai operates an app-driven mobility ecosystem spanning metro, tram, buses, marine transport, taxis, ride-hailing, car-sharing, and traditional rentals.
In 2026, travellers are selecting modes based on specific needs, combining options through platforms such as S’hail. This multimodal behaviour generates the data required for AI-driven routing, ranking, and real-time recommendations, the report said.
UAE provides real-world scale for AI-powered travel
High tourism volume, mobile-first behaviour, and a diverse resident population make the UAE an effective real-world stress test for AI-driven mobility platforms. Dubai welcomed 18.72 million international visitors in 2024, while DXB handled 92.3 million passengers. The country has near-universal digital adoption, with ~99% internet penetration and ~97% smartphone usage. Its rent-a-car market is projected to reach $1.8 billion by 2032, and short-term rentals accounted for approximately 71% of the UAE car rental market in 2024, reflecting leisure-driven, high-frequency demand. Together, these trends show how AI-enabled tools are becoming embedded in everyday travel planning rather than used occasionally.
Marketplaces have an AI advantage
Marketplaces benefit from rich behavioural and transactional data, enabling continuous learning across clicks, bookings, and cancellations. Dubai’s rental fleet expanded from 49,725 to 71,040 vehicles in one year, a 43% increase, supported by 3,494 rental firms. Supply innovation is accelerating, with high-end rentals growing 73% year over year and electric-vehicle adoption rising 50%, creating new behavioural clusters and price-value layers. This fragmented yet fast-growing environment allows AI to improve ranking, matching, quality scoring, dynamic pricing, and supply allocation, positioning marketplaces as the most data-rich testbeds for machine learning in mobility.
Near-term value is operational AI
Yango Drive’s report finds that AI’s most immediate impact comes from operational optimisation rather than full autonomy. Visible gains are already emerging across dynamic pricing, supply balancing, demand prediction, and routing. Dubai has piloted AI-based V2X traffic systems that reduced congestion by up to 37%, while the RTA’s AI Strategy 2030 includes 81 projects targeting travel-time reductions of 20–30%. Hala’s e-hail taxis use capped peak multipliers of up to 1.3×, and Dubai’s upcoming taxi reforms will link app booking fees to peak and off-peak periods. These developments show how data-rich transport systems enable real-time optimisation at scale.
Islam Abdul Karim, Regional Head of Yango Group Middle East, said: “Travel today starts and lives on mobile, and AI is present at every step of that journey, from discovery to in-trip support. Industry players need to understand which areas are booming and where near-term value lies. At Yango, our mission is to simplify everyday movement through intelligent technology. By sharing these insights, we hope to support smarter mobility decisions and accelerate innovation across the UAE’s travel ecosystem.”
Looking ahead, Yango Drive plans to deepen its use of AI across marketplace intelligence, pricing, and personalised mobility recommendations, building on the UAE’s data-rich environment to support the country’s rapidly growing mobility ecosystem. – TradeArabia News Service
