Today's Edition
ABU DHABI (ALETIHAD)
Autonomous technologies are reshaping how the world moves making transport smarter, safer, and more sustainable across land, air, and sea. Among these frontiers, maritime autonomy stands out for its potential to transform global trade and logistics by reducing emissions and costs while improving safety in busy waterways.
Few places are pursuing that promise with as much coordination and pace as Abu Dhabi.
That vision is moving from concept to reality. Abu Dhabi’s ports operator, AD Ports Group, has introduced SAFEEN Green, a remotely operated unmanned surface vessel (USV) designed for long-range offshore survey and inspection missions, engineered to run on renewable electric power or biofuels and controlled from an onshore Remote Operations Centre.
The platform’s low-emission profile and unmanned operations point to the kind of real-world gains - safety, uptime, and carbon reduction, autonomy can deliver today.
Infrastructure is advancing in parallel. In April 2024, Abu Dhabi Mobility and the Abu Dhabi Investment Office unveiled the region’s first operational vertiport at Zayed Port, Abu Dhabi Cruise Terminal, a step toward intermodal hubs where sea, air and road systems interconnect.
In 2025, Abu Dhabi also cleared the first hybrid heliport/vertiport design, reinforcing readiness for future eVTOL services in the capital.
Abu Dhabi is also betting on new classes of craft. In May 2025, ADNOC Logistics and Services, and US startup REGENT, announced a proof-of-concept trial for all-electric seagliders, wing-in-ground-effect vessels that float, foil and then skim just above the water at aircraft-like speeds from dockside to dockside, offering a cleaner, faster alternative for offshore shuttles and coastal routes. REGENT’s 12-passenger Viceroy targets ~300 km range and ~260–290 km/h cruise (Viceroy specs, technology overview), while regulators have begun engaging internationally.
In 2024, the US Coast Guard cleared REGENT to proceed with full-scale human testing of its prototype, an important signal for global adoption pathways.
The unifying element is coordination. The Smart and Autonomous Systems Council (SASC) sets cross-government direction for safe deployment. AD Ports Group delivers operational heft at sea; ADIO de-risks investment; and public showcases such as the DRIFTx exhibition, bring multi-modal autonomy to global audiences, with live demonstrations across land, air and sea.
Rather than isolated trials, Abu Dhabi is building an integrated ecosystem that links vessels, infrastructure, policy and capital into one platform for leadership in autonomous technology.
Building on this innovation ecosystem, Abu Dhabi Mobility and the Technology Innovation Institute (TII) signed a forward-looking Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in May 2025 to advance research and testing in maritime autonomy, AI-enabled navigation, and intelligent safety systems.
This collaboration is designed to position Abu Dhabi as a global hub for applied maritime innovation by linking government strategy with cutting-edge R&D. The partnership reflects the emirate’s commitment to transforming future mobility - integrating advanced technologies, fostering local talent, and accelerating real-world trials that define the next generation of smart maritime solutions.
The ambition is straightforward: prove technologies in real conditions, embed them in infrastructure, and connect them to industrial capacity.
This is visible on land too with Abu Dhabi recently announcing the launch of the Urban Loop, an autonomous rapid transit system to be piloted on Al Reem Island. In the air, eVTOL trials by EHang and Archer are validating operations like route planning, vertiport functionality, and performance in local climate conditions.
For decades, maritime autonomy and the development of interoperable platforms across land, sea, and air was a promise. In Abu Dhabi, with a low-emission USV already at work offshore to the first operational vertiport at a major port and land-based autonomous transport solutions already in motion, it is becoming a reality.
With strategic partnerships, regulatory support, and infrastructure development in place, the emirate is turning pilots into platforms and positioning itself as a global testbed for sea-based autonomy and interoperable platforms across land, sea, and air.
