Sultan Al Akraf: AI-powered system delivers precise, impartial assessment of learner drivers and enhances road safety
Dubai. Roads and Transport Authority. 29September 2026:
Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) continues to advance its driver licensing services and deploy the latest smart technologies through the introduction of the next-generation Smart Test System (STS). The system represents a significant advance in light-vehicle yard testing, harnessing artificial intelligence, computer vision and advanced data analytics.
The system is designed to improve the accuracy and objectivity of assessments, enhance transparency and fairness, and provide a better customer experience. It also enhances road safety by monitoring safety-related behaviours and practices during the test and enabling preventive action whenever potential risks are detected.
Sultan Al Akraf, Director of Drivers Licensing at the Licensing Agency, RTA, said: “The next-generation Smart Test System marks an important step forward in RTA’s smart transformation of driver licensing services, harnessing advanced technologies to enhance testing and assessment. The system is designed to ensure that learner drivers are evaluated against consistent and precise criteria, minimising inconsistencies in assessment, strengthening customer confidence in test results and providing a clearer and more transparent testing experience.”
Al Akraf added: “The system goes beyond automating the calculation of test results. It provides an integrated framework for monitoring and analysing learner performance across different manoeuvres, while presenting recorded errors in a clear visual format. This enables customers to understand the reasons behind their results and identify areas for improvement. The smart safety technologies integrated into the system also enhance learner protection during the test through AI-powered collision avoidance and preventive emergency braking systems. These features help reduce the likelihood of accidents during testing, create a safer and more controlled testing environment, and place greater emphasis on addressing risks before they result in accidents.”
Automated, Standardised Assessment
The next-generation system uses advanced AI technologies integrated into the test vehicle to monitor learner performance, analyse manoeuvres automatically and in real time, and assess every element of the test against standardised criteria, with no human intervention in calculating the results. It also strengthens governance controls by verifying learner identity through facial recognition technology, enhancing the reliability of the testing and assessment process and ensuring that each result is linked to the correct learner.
The system also monitors compliance with testing and safety requirements, including mirror and blind-spot checks using smart cameras, as well as hand positioning on the steering wheel while manoeuvres are performed. This enables a comprehensive assessment of the core skills and behaviours essential to safe driving.
Exceptional Precision
The upgrades include enhanced vehicle tracking within the test yard using Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) positioning technology, which delivers positioning accuracy to within two centimetres. This enables the system to detect errors related to vehicle path, yard manoeuvres, parking positions and other violations with a high degree of precision.
The system also features an interactive 3D map that visualises the vehicle’s route throughout the test and clearly pinpoints where major and minor errors occurred. This gives customers a clearer and more precise understanding of their results and the reasons behind them.
Visual Evidence for Test Results
The system allows customers to replay the vehicle’s journey during the test and review their performance in detail afterwards, with visual evidence pinpointing where errors occurred and explaining why they were recorded. This enhances transparency and helps customers clearly identify areas for improvement.
To further strengthen safety, the preventive automatic braking system has been further developed for use within test areas, enabling automatic intervention whenever the system detects a situation that could result in a collision or pose a potential risk during the test. Based on a proactive safety approach, the system identifies hazards and intervenes before a collision occurs, helping reduce the risk of accidents and safeguard the learner, the vehicle and the surrounding test environment.
The system is also designed to maintain consistent performance under varying weather and lighting conditions, by day and night, reducing the impact of external factors on monitoring and assessment.
More Transparent and Safer Experience
The upgrades are expected to deliver a range of direct benefits to customers, including clearer test results and a better understanding of the reasons for passing or failing. By integrating test results with the training system, performance data can also be used to identify individual learner needs, tailor training programmes, and improve their quality and effectiveness, further strengthening confidence in the fairness and objectivity of the assessment process.
The system also enhances transparency by presenting errors visually and in detail, enabling customers to identify areas for improvement more precisely. At the same time, it enhances safety during testing, improves service quality and streamlines test-related procedures.
The initiative forms part of RTA’s continued efforts to harness artificial intelligence and advanced technologies to further develop the driver licensing system, improve operational efficiency and enhance road safety by helping prepare drivers who are more committed to safe driving practices. It also supports the sustainability and continuity of operations, in line with Dubai’s drive to build a smart, safe and sustainable transport system.
