Dubai Likely to Use Robots to Inspect Cars

The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) in Dubai has launched a vehicle inspecting robot during the 38th Gitex Technology Week that was held recently.

The RTA will be using these robots to make its vehicle inspection system more high-tech as they can help motorists detect faults in their cars.

The vehicle inspection robot which was unveiled at the 38th Gitex Technology Week was one of a series of initiatives that the RTA launched like a virtual assistant, testing of an autonomous taxi and a commuter rewards program. All these measures are meant to make life easier for road users.

Currently, the robot is being tested in the pilot phase and will be installed at petrol pumps and other public locations so that motorists can access them easily.

Commenting on the robots, Jamal Al Sa’adah, director of RTA’s Vehicle Licensing Department said that initially, people can use them at these location to detect faults and thus minimize the chances of any breakdowns. They will also not need to go to any workshops in order to find out if their vehicles need any kind of repair.

The robots have the capability to interact directly with motorists and there is no need for any human intervention. Motorists just need to complete a few simple steps to access the fault detection service.

Motorists need to opt for the fault reading service on the robot’s interactive screen. They then need to make the required payment by inserting a debit or credit card. Once the payment has been processed, a slot will open in the machine and motorists need to remove a dongle from the machine and insert it into their vehicle to diagnose the problem in the vehicle.

“Once the dongle is inserted the robot takes a few minutes to read the car’s system and find faults. Once that is done it will direct the user to remove the dongle and put it back in the robot to analyze the data. It then asks the user for an email ID where the certificate of the diagnosis is sent,” said Al Sa’adah.
He added that in the next stage, the RTA plans to use the robot for the annual vehicle inspections.