Dubai's robotaxis have driven four million kilometres, and the number that matters is the other one

Every autonomous vehicle programme in the world publishes a distance. Almost none of them publishes what the passengers thought, which is the half that decides whether the distance ever becomes a business.

The two figures

Dubai's robotaxi programme has passed four million kilometres, across thousands of customer journeys, with customer satisfaction reported at 97 per cent.

Why the pairing is the story

Distance is a test statistic: it says the software has seen enough situations to be worth arguing about. Satisfaction is a service statistic: it says people who could have taken a normal taxi did not regret the choice. A programme with the first and not the second is still a pilot, whatever it charges.

The target the figures are pointed at

The emirate's stated goal is 25 per cent of daily trips autonomous by 2030. That is not a fleet size; it is a share of a growing total, which means the denominator is moving too.

What four million is, in city terms

Roughly a hundred laps of the planet, driven inside one urban road network, with its roundabouts, its unsignalled U-turns and its August heat. The value is not the total. It is that the same few junctions have now been driven thousands of times each.