RTA’s Educational E-Scooter VR Game

RTA tackled rising e-scooter safety breaches by launching a bilingual VR e-scooter game on a simulator. It has excelled in driving digital innovation and advancement and improving road safety awareness. The objectives were set to achieve Dubai's Road Safety Strategy reaching to 100,000 game users, a 14% reduction in accidents and around 50,000 e-scooter permits issued after training.

Introduction and Objectives:

The Roads and Transport Authority's (RTA) soft mobility plan which promotes cycling, using electric scooters, and walking, has proven to be successful for individual commuting in Dubai with e-scooters trips doubling to reach 1.98 million trips in 2023. However, Incident reports in Q3 2023 highlighted recurring breaches by riders (speeding, riding in undesignated areas, failure to give way to pedestrians and unsafe behavior) on shared roads increasing crash and fatality rates.

RTA identified the need for an innovative, technology-driven intervention beyond traditional awareness methods, that is realistic, and relevant to user behaviors in the digital age, while supporting Dubai's Smart City direction and RTA's "Vision Zero" policy. Objectives focused on investing in cutting-edge technologies, including AI, to:

• Advance Dubai's Road Safety Strategy, improve compliance with e-scooter rules and promote safe riding habits to enhance quality of life.
• Reduce e-scooter fines and fatalities by 10% annually.
• Increase the number of riders obtaining the mandatory permit.
• Leverage data analysis. About the E-scooter VR Game

In 2024, RTA developed an AI-enabled VR e-scooter game, an immersive bilingual (Arabic/English) safety education platform that speaks the language of the digital generation and captures young people's interests. Cost-efficient and scalable, and replicable, the solution enables riders to use a VR headset mounted on a physical e-scooter stand, replacing field training visits while preserving the realism of actual riding on Dubai's e-scooter tracks through a highly realistic 3D environment. It allows safe learning and behavioural testing without exposing participants to real-world risks, and delivers three integrated AI-powered modules:

1. A city exploration ride supporting proactive monitoring and learning optimization, each session generates behavioral data, identifying common risk patterns, enabling smarter, targeted awareness campaigns, and supporting AI-assisted forecasting for demand and future track planning.
2. A competency and behaviour assessment module with 20+ realistic scenarios promoting social responsibility and problem-solving skills, the platform develops a young generation of responsible e-scooter riders in both virtual and real worlds.
3. An interactive challenge reinforcing protective behaviours such as helmet use, traffic control systems, the process of obtaining an e-scooter permit, and decision making that increase road safety awareness.

Outcomes:

Through this AI-enabled VR innovation, RTA scaled that digital, immersive, and data-driven education is a powerful catalyst for safer mobility, setting a regional benchmark for proactive, measurable, and future ready government innovation in road safety:

• Recorded major growth in e-scooter usage, with trips increasing by 52% from 1.97 million trips in 2023 to around 3 million in 2025.
• Achieved Safety outcomes: accidents decreased by 14% and fines dropped by nearly 20%, reinforcing RTA's "Vision Zero" direction.
• Established a community-anchored learning model, benefiting 100,000+ users through on-ground activations at universities, malls, workshops, and community events.
• Leveraged data analysis to measure impact and engagement, enabling awareness programs to be continuously modified to better meet the needs of target groups.
• Converted awareness into compliance: 50,000+ riders obtained free e-scooter permits after training and passing an online test.
• Validated the behavioural effect: A survey of 5,000+ participants: 92% found the experience highly engaging, 95% reported increased traffic safety awareness, 99% committed to change habits and comply with, and 92% rated the overall VR experience as excellent.