Empty Cab in the Gulf: Dubai Metro Has Run Driverless Since 2009
Did you know Dubai opened a fully driverless metro at 9 minutes and 9 seconds past 9 pm on 9 September 2009, with nobody in a driver's seat from day one?
Sam Okonkwo, Robotaxi · Sept. 27, 2026 · 3-4 min
DUBAI - Did you know Dubai opened a fully driverless metro at 9 minutes and 9 seconds past 9 pm on 9 September 2009, with nobody in a driver's seat from day one?
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries said the Red Line commenced operation on 9 September 2009 at 10 key stations as the first urban rail system in the Gulf Cooperation Council. The Dubai Metro was fully automated and driverless. Phase I of the Red Line ran about 53 kilometers from Dubai International Airport to Jebel Ali. The Dubai Rapid Link (DURL) consortium, led by MHI with Mitsubishi Corporation, Obayashi, Kajima, and Yapi Merkezi, built the system. Plans at launch called for about 75 kilometers once the Green Line joined, which MHI described as the world's longest driverless rail system.
Gulf News, marking the network's 17th anniversary on 9 September 2026, recalled the inauguration timed for 9:09:09 pm on 09.09.09. More than 110,000 riders used the metro in the first 48 hours, about 10 percent of Dubai's population then. Guinness recognised the network as the world's longest driverless metro at 75 kilometers from launch until 2016. Today the Red and Green lines stretch nearly 90 kilometers across 55 stations. Cumulative ridership since 2009 has passed 2.4 billion, with punctuality reported at 99.7 percent.
The Operations Control Centre sits in Rashidiya, with a backup at Jebel Ali, according to Gulf News. Trains leave the depot and run the elevated and underground segments under automatic control, the same empty-cab model that opened the Red Line in 2009.
Long before street robotaxis sold paid empty-cab rides, Dubai was already running driverless metro cars at city scale. The curiosity is not that metros can run without a driver. It is that this one has done it in public, every day, since 09.09.09.
Sources
Sam Okonkwo, Robotaxi. Sam Okonkwo is a senior correspondent covering robotaxis, fleet ops, and paid driverless service. Previously reported transport tech for trade titles; based in Austin.
