Dubai's RTA uses drones to inspect 300 heavy vehicles

Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) carried out over 300 inspections of heavy vehicles using drones last year.

“We had identified all the various cases of heavy vehicles that can be inspected using drones. This creative national initiative utilises artificial intelligence technologies onboard drones to carry out inspections of trucks.

“The RTA has trained nine officials who were accredited by the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority to act as drone operators,” said Mohammed Nabhan, director of licensing activities monitoring, licensing agency, RTA.

The official said this has “eased the difficulties encountered by inspectors when inspecting parts of heavy vehicles, which are normally difficult to access”.

“Since we started using drones in heavy vehicle inspections last year, we have conducted more than 300 inspections, recording 580 flying minutes and resulting in reporting 48 offences,” said Nabhan.

“The use of drones … reduces the vulnerability of inspectors to incidents associated with the climbing up the vehicle to inspect the upper areas and verify the technical faults.”

They also inspect aspects related to shipping and loading instructions.