One of Saudi Arabia’s leading higher education institutions, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), is widely known for a number of key milestones. It is a university that continues to graduate leaders in various fields such as Saudi PhD candidate Fatemah Alharbi, who made headlines for discovering a flaw in the security systems of Apple, Microsoft, and Linux. It is also known as one of the first institutions to join Saudi Arabia’s drive towards providing more opportunities for women to be part of the Kingdom’s social, cultural, and economic transformation, by developing its first women’s campus for tourism majors.
This week, KAUST has made headlines once again for another amazing first: launching on its campus the first-ever self-driving vehicles in the Kingdom. According to various news sources, the university’s Thuwal campus will welcome two driverless shuttles nicknamed Olli and EZ10, both that will be test-driven in order to then provide regular transportation for students and staff starting early 2020. The vehicles were introduced to the campus during a ceremony that was attended by various senior officials, executives, and members of KAUST, and the launch was marked by KAUST President Tony Chan cutting a ribbon in front of the distinguished guests.
In his welcome address, Chan said, “We pride ourselves on being an innovation hub in the region for developing and adopting advanced technology […] Implementing self-driving vehicle technology underscores our strong artificial intelligence research base and the flexibility of our campus community, which make KAUST an ideal partner to adopt and demonstrate smart city user experiences for the Kingdom.”
According to Saudi Gazette, the movement and navigation of Olli and EZ10 will utilize “mapping, cognitive response technology, light detection, and ranging (Lidar), and obstacle avoidance systems.” In addition, both shuttles have been built to run on electricity, offering the campus an accessible and sustainable form of transportation, and will be operated and managed by KAUST’s strategic partners Saudi Public Transport Co. (SAPTCO).
