Future World Forum News
Smart city and PropTech news from Dubai
Smart cities, PropTech, digital finance and mobility in Dubai — the things actually happening in the sectors on the forum's programme. Every item is sourced from the body that announced it, and says what it means rather than repeating the press release.
Dubai's robotaxis go commercial
The RTA began paid driverless taxi operations on 30 March 2026 with an initial 100 vehicles, bookable through the Uber and Apollo Go apps.
Dubai pilots tokenised property titles
The Dubai Land Department's tokenisation pilot, run with VARA and the Dubai Future Foundation, projects AED 60 billion in tokenised property by 2033 — about 7% of the emirate's transactions.
Two questions, one trial
A Nature Biotechnology paper proposes measuring biological age inside ordinary disease trials, using blood already drawn, and sets out what regulators would need first.
Claude's text carries a watermark now
Since 2 August every new Claude model has been marking what it writes, using a keyed pattern in its own word choices. The detector is deliberately not public.
Four million driverless kilometres
The RTA puts the programme past four million kilometres with 97 per cent customer satisfaction — a pairing that says more about the service than either figure alone.
The train reaches Dubai on 30 September
Etihad Rail’s passenger service formally launches on 30 September, adding Al Yalayis in Dubai and Al Dhaid in Sharjah. Abu Dhabi to Dubai is about 57 minutes.
A standard for agents that drive hardware
The Model Hardware Standard gives microscopes, robotic arms and liquid handlers one common driver interface. It is a research preview with selected partners, not an open release.
Agentic AI training for 14,000 firms
A new e-learning platform, Dubai Chambers Academy, is putting agentic AI tracks in front of the Chamber of Commerce's business groups and councils.
A 15 km zone for seven autonomous modes
The Dubai Autonomous Zone covers Al Jaddaf, Dubai Creek Harbour and Dubai Festival City, and is meant to run seven driverless modes by mid-2027.
IFA: 1,900 brands, 49 countries
Europe's consumer technology show runs 4–8 September at Messe Berlin, drawing visitors from 140 countries — a floor built on things you can pick up.
Delivery drones over parks and beaches
Dubai Municipality and Keeta Drone are bringing aerial delivery to public leisure sites — the first case where the customer has no fixed address.
Hardware person, software decade
John Ternus ran the physical iPhone, iPad, Mac and Watch for years. On 1 September he took over a company whose hardest open problem is software.
ChatGPT is now a search engine, legally
On 31 August the European Commission designated ChatGPT a very large online search engine under the Digital Services Act. The classification says more about how systems get governed than about the product.
Dubai second in BCG's Intelligent Cities Index
Boston Consulting Group's inaugural Intelligent Cities Index put Dubai second of 61 cities worldwide, and first of all of them on adoption of AI and smart-city technology.
Half of UAE services move to AI agents
Sheikh Mohammed has set a two-year target for 50% of federal sectors, services and operations to run on agentic AI — systems that plan and act, not just answer.
VARA adds rules for crypto derivatives
Version 2.1 of Dubai's Exchange Services Rulebook added a framework for exchange-traded derivatives in virtual assets, effective immediately for licensed exchanges.