Oxa signs partnership to accelerate autonomous vehicle rollout in Middle East

Oxa has formed a strategic partnership with Abu Dhabi’s Bayanat to advance development and deployment of autonomous vehicles in the UAE and beyond.

The partnership was officially inaugurated during a visit to Oxa’s Oxford headquarters from Bayanat staff and members of the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO), which has backed the partnership.

Their collaboration will leverage Bayanat’s AI-powered geospatial analytics capabilities alongside Oxa’s pioneering autonomous vehicle technologies to bring about solutions for smart cities and autonomous transportation systems.

Last year, Abu Dhabi launched a Smart and Autonomous Vehicle Industries (SAVI) cluster to support rollout of such solutions across air, land and sea.

Among the goals of the collaboration with Oxa will be to explore the creation of an Autonomous Mobility Centre of Excellence within the cluster.

The partnership also looks to promote the hiring and nurturing of local talent including software, hardware, and operations engineers, data scientists, legal professionals, and general support staff.

An advisory board will be formed from UAE industry representatives and senior leaders from Oxa to guide the project.

Gavin Jackson, CEO of Oxa, said: “As a B2B company, we look for partners who have the vision and capabilities to help us bring our world-class autonomy solutions to a wide range of companies – and Bayanat and ADIO are those partners.

“Using the knowledge gained from our existing commercial deployments in the US and Bayanat’s technical capabilities and deep relationships throughout the GCC, we expect to accelerate the adoption of autonomy across multiple use cases.

“We’re also excited about the strong technical talent pool in the region, fostered by the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence and SAVI – both of which will help us further develop our strong cohort of highly-skilled engineers, including at our planned base in Abu Dhabi.”

Hasan Al Hosani, managing director of Bayanat, added: “This collaboration with Oxa marks a significant milestone in our journey towards revolutionizing transportation and smart city solutions.

“By combining our expertise in geospatial analytics and operational capabilities in autonomous vehicles with Oxa’s leadership in autonomous vehicle technology, we are poised to create groundbreaking solutions that will enhance mobility, safety, and efficiency in urban areas.

“We’re also grateful for the support from ADIO, which plays a crucial role in driving innovation and technological development in the region.”