Dubai Vision Zero: AI-Driven Safe Streets and Smarter Mobility

Dubai’s Vision Zero aims to eliminate road fatalities and serious injuries by 2030. The city has made progress through regulatory reforms, improved urban design, and smarter traffic management, but growth in population, vehicles, and events continues to strain urban mobility. The path forward calls for deeper integration of data, policy, and operations across the entire urban mobility stack. In this context, a data-driven, AI-powered safety platform could unlock real-time insights, accelerate decision-making, and help translate Vision Zero into measurable daily outcomes on Dubai’s streets.

Why Dubai’s streets demand a new approach

Dubai’s urban fabric blends high-speed corridors with dense pedestrian zones, a pattern that challenges traditional traffic management. The RTA’s traffic operations and control centers, along with Dubai Police enforcement teams, already rely on cameras, sensors, and incident reporting to respond to incidents and calibrate signals. Yet safety risks persist around busy intersections, school routes, and large event corridors. The city’s ambition to improve walkability, reduce conflict points between vehicles and pedestrians, and shorten emergency response times calls for a unified, city-wide view of risk that transcends individual agencies and data silos.

Open data initiatives, urban planning digital twins, and AI-enabled analytics are reshaping how governments understand and react to safety threats. Dubai already embraces smart mobility concepts, but there is an opportunity to institutionalize a single platform that ingests live traffic data, transit schedules, weather, and event calendars to drive safer street operation and proactive interventions.

The technology angle: data, AI, and digital twins

At the core of a scalable safety program is an integrated data ecosystem that respects privacy and regulatory requirements while enabling rapid, trusted insights. A city-wide mobility safety platform would connect disparate data sources such as:

• RTA ITS feeds, signal phase outputs, and real-time traffic speeds
• Dubai Police traffic incident and enforcement data
• Public transport timetables, bus and metro on-time performance, and last-mile connectivity data
• Weather services, construction alerts, and major event calendars
• Urban design data from Dubai Municipality and property developers to map school zones, crossings, and high footfall areas

Advanced analytics and AI would turn this data into actionable signals: dynamic speed advisories, adaptive signal timing around critical corridors, predictive crash risk scoring, and targeted public awareness campaigns. A digital twin of selected city districts would enable scenario testing—evaluating the safety impact of redesigned crosswalks, curb extensions, or changed lane allocations before work begins. The result is a responsive safety engine that supports enforcement, operations, and urban design in a coordinated way.

Proposed Idea: Dubai Safe Streets Data Exchange (DSSDE)

The Dubai Safe Streets Data Exchange (DSSDE) is a proposed city-scale platform that harmonizes data governance, real-time analytics, and operational action for road safety. It is designed to be implemented in collaboration with RTA, Dubai Police, Dubai Municipality, and selected private-sector partners, with clear regulatory compliance and privacy safeguards.

• Governance and privacy: A central safety data council sets data-sharing policies, access controls, and consent frameworks aligned with Dubai’s regulatory standards. Data minimization and anonymization are prioritized for non-operational analytics, while operational data remains traceable for law enforcement and public safety use.
• Data sources and integration: Federated data lakes pull streams from ITS feeds, CCTV analytics, transit data, event calendars, weather, and construction notices. A data-ops layer ensures standardization, lineage, and quality checks before analytics.
• Analytics and AI: Real-time risk scoring identifies high-risk corridors, while predictive models forecast near-term safety hot spots. Edge and cloud compute enable rapid responses, from signal timing adjustments to targeted public alerts.
• Digital twin and simulation: A shared digital twin lets planners test street redesigns, signal strategies, and pedestrian safety improvements in a risk-free environment before deployment.
• Operational workflows: Dashboards for traffic operators, collaborations with police enforcement for dynamic enforcement, and public alerts to inform drivers and pedestrians during events or adverse conditions.

Pilot deployments would focus on high-traffic arterial corridors and zones with dense pedestrian activity, such as education districts and major mixed-use developments. Success would be measured through reductions in crash severity, improved average response times to incidents, and observable improvements in safe-pedestrian crossing behavior during peak hours.

How this idea aligns with Dubai’s safety and mobility goals

The DSSDE concept directly supports Dubai’s ongoing commitment to smart mobility and Vision Zero by enabling faster, data-backed decisions that reduce risk. It complements existing RTA initiatives in traffic management, pedestrian safety, and urban design by providing a holistic, city-wide lens on safety. The platform can also feed into broader digital governance programs—open data for researchers, smoother coordination for large-scale events, and more predictable operations for emergency responders. By consolidating data-driven insights into a single coordination point, Dubai can accelerate safety improvements while maintaining a high standard of privacy and regulatory compliance.

Implementation sketch: a practical, phased approach

Rolling out DSSDE should follow a structured 4–8 week glidepath for a focused pilot, then scale city-wide in phases. A practical pilot roadmap could include:

• Weeks 1–2: Stakeholder alignment and data mapping – Establish governance, identify data stewards, and catalog data sources. Define key safety metrics and privacy controls with legal teams and regulators.
• Weeks 3–4: Technical integration – Build the federated data lake, establish data-sharing APIs, and configure real-time data streams from ITS, CCTV analytics, and transit feeds. Set up the safety analytics engine and the digital twin sandbox.
• Weeks 5–6: Pilot deployment – Implement adaptive signal timing in the selected corridor, enable dynamic speed advisories, and launch situational dashboards for operators and enforcement partners. Deliver public alerts for high-risk windows (e.g., school pickup/drop-off times).
• Weeks 7–8: Evaluation – Collect baseline vs. post-implementation safety indicators, monitor response times, and gather feedback from field operators. Adjust models and controls based on results.

Beyond the pilot, an expansion plan would systematically broaden corridor coverage, incorporate more granular pedestrian data (e.g., crosswalk utilization), and integrate additional data feeds (industrial zones, large construction sites). A governance-driven cadence ensures continuous improvement, accountability, and alignment with Dubai’s evolving regulatory landscape.

DubaiWiz: execution and delivery

Why DubaiWiz: DubaiWiz brings a rigorous, cross-functional implementation capability that spans policy, data/AI, product, and urban operations. Our team has deep familiarity with Dubai’s regulatory expectations and the practical realities of deploying city-scale data platforms in collaboration with public authorities. We have successfully navigated complex governance structures and delivered pilots that respect privacy, data sovereignty, and local procurement standards. Our partnerships with local technology providers and system integrators ensure a smooth path from concept to operation, with clear KPIs and measurable impact.

How we help: We structure the program to de-risk data sharing, align with regulatory requirements, design the platform architecture, run the pilot, and establish a post-pilot scale plan. We offer a turnkey approach to data governance, analytics, digital twins, and field operations, with a dedicated cross-functional team ready to translate insights into safer streets.

CTA: Ready to explore how this approach can strengthen Dubai’s Vision Zero initiatives and smart mobility roadmap? Book a working session with our Dubai team to define a tailored pilot, align stakeholders, and outline the 90-day path to measurable safety improvements on your city street network.

Conclusion: turning data into safer streets for Dubai

The alignment of Vision Zero with AI-enabled mobility data creates a powerful blueprint for safer streets. By building a centralized, privacy-conscious platform that links enforcement, planning, and operation in real time, Dubai can accelerate safety gains, improve pedestrian experiences, and demonstrate the practical value of smart city technologies. The journey requires careful governance, robust data partnerships, and a disciplined, phased rollout—areas where DubaiWiz stands ready to partner with public authorities to deliver tangible safety outcomes and enduring urban resilience.