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When is Tesla coming to Dubai and the United Arab Emirates?
If you think people living in one of the world’s most oil rich nations would not be interested in sustainable energy and driving electric automobiles, think again. Citizens of the United Arab Emirates are deeply involved in sustainability due to the harsh climates they live in. They’re also deeply interested in experiencing cutting edge technology and no better way to do that than to drive a Tesla, the most technologically advanced car in the world.
The UAE is comprised of 7 emirates located along the shores of the Persian Gulf on the eastern side of the Arabian peninsular. At the present time, the closest Tesla Superchargers are located hundreds of miles to the west in Jordan.
Tesla Supercharger location in Jordan via Facebook, September, 2015
Back in 2015, Elon Musk tweeted that other nations in the area would soon be included in the Tesla community, but external factors like war and political insecurity have kept Tesla from developing more of a presence in the Middle East. At the present time, no new Superchargers in the area are planned, according to Tesla’s Supercharger map.
None of that has kept buyers in the UAE from bombarding Tesla with requests for information about purchasing a Tesla. In fact, some of the strongest interest the company has received in its upcoming Model 3 comes from that area.
@sAlmaneei already in Jordan. Rest of states in region next year.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 21, 2015
Last April, Ryan Kennedy, a sales manager at Tesla in the United States, told UAE news source 7days that the Middle East is now one of Tesla’s biggest markets even though charging infrastructure is almost nonexistent in the area. “Out of all our international requests, we get the most calls from the Middle East region… almost every day.”
Kennedy said that buyers are “eager to know how can they get Tesla cars over there,” then added, “We have a lot of buyers in that particular market and with Tesla Motors looking to expand locations across the globe by mid-2017, Dubai could be an important candidate.”
This week has been Sustainability Week in Abu Dhabi, an annual event sponsored by Masdar Corporation, a $15 billion dollar multinational business that promotes cleantech research and investments. Its CEO, Dr Ahmad Belhoul, has been involved in sustainability initiatives since 2006 — long before the world agreed to wide ranging climate protocols in Paris in December, 2015.
The buzz among the attendees at this year’s event is that Tesla is very close to opening a showroom in either Abu Dhabi or Dubai — or possibly both. It’s not official yet. A Tesla spokesperson would say only, “We don’t have anything to share yet but will certainly keep you posted on any news relating to the UAE.” according to a report from CleanTechnica.
If the rumors are correct, Tesla would be joining BMW in the Middle East market. The German company already sells its i3 electric sedan and i8 hybrid electric sports car there. The Emirates are also home to dealerships for McLaren, Ferrari, and other ultra luxury performance cars. Since the new Tesla Model S P100D is faster to 60 mph than any of those other cars, it could prove to be a very popular choice for wealthy residents of the Emirates.
The United Arab Emirates has become a premium global brand thanks to the reputation for excellent service earned by Emirates airline. Adding Tesla’s own prestigious brand to the UAE international profile would make perfect sense. We will keep you informed of any official word from Tesla about expanding operations to include showrooms and Supercharger facilities in the UAE.
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Tesla Robotaxi Safety Monitor seems to doze off during Bay Area ride
We won’t try to blame the camera person for the incident, because it clearly is not their fault. But it seems somewhat interesting that they did not try to wake the driver up and potentially contact Tesla immediately to alert them of the situation.
A Tesla Robotaxi Safety Monitor appeared to doze off during a ride in the California Bay Area, almost ironically proving the need for autonomous vehicles.
The instance was captured on camera and posted to Reddit in the r/sanfrancisco subreddit by u/ohmichael. They wrote that they have used Tesla’s ride-hailing service in the Bay Area in the past and had pleasant experiences.
However, this one was slightly different. They wrote:
“I took a Tesla Robotaxi in SF just over a week ago. I have used the service a few times before and it has always been great. I actually felt safer than in a regular rideshare.
This time was different. The safety driver literally fell asleep at least three times during the ride. Each time the car’s pay attention safety alert went off and the beeping is what woke him back up.
I reported it through the app to the Robotaxi support team and told them I had videos, but I never got a response.
I held off on posting anything because I wanted to give Tesla a chance to respond privately. It has been more than a week now and this feels like a serious issue for other riders too.
Has anyone else seen this happen?”
My Tesla Robotaxi “safety” driver fell asleep
byu/ohmichael insanfrancisco
The driver eventually woke up after prompts from the vehicle, but it is pretty alarming to see someone like this while they’re ultimately responsible for what happens with the ride.
We won’t try to blame the camera person for the incident, because it clearly is not their fault. But it seems somewhat interesting that they did not try to wake the driver up and potentially contact Tesla immediately to alert them of the situation.
They should have probably left the vehicle immediately.
Tesla’s ride-hailing service in the Bay Area differs from the one that is currently active in Austin, Texas, due to local regulations. In Austin, there is no Safety Monitor in the driver’s seat unless the route requires the highway.
Tesla plans to remove the Safety Monitors in Austin by the end of the year.
Tesla has officially opened Robotaxi access to everyone and everyone, but there is one catch: you have to have an iPhone.
Tesla’s Robotaxi service in Austin and its ride-hailing service in the Bay Area were both officially launched to the public today, giving anyone using the iOS platform the ability to simply download the app and utilize it for a ride in either of those locations.
It has been in operation for several months: it launched in Austin in late June and in the Bay Area about a month later. In Austin, there is nobody in the driver’s seat unless the route takes you on the freeway.
In the Bay Area, there is someone in the driver’s seat at all times.
The platform was initially launched to those who were specifically invited to Austin to try it out.
Tesla confirms Robotaxi is heading to five new cities in the U.S.
Slowly, Tesla launched the platform to more people, hoping to expand the number of rides and get more valuable data on its performance in both regions to help local regulatory agencies relax some of the constraints that were placed on it.
Additionally, Tesla had its own in-house restrictions, like the presence of Safety Monitors in the vehicles. However, CEO Elon Musk has maintained that these monitors were present for safety reasons specifically, but revealed the plan was to remove them by the end of the year.
Now, Tesla is opening up Robotaxi to anyone who wants to try it, as many people reported today that they were able to access the app and immediately fetch a ride if they were in the area.
We also confirmed it ourselves, as it was shown that we could grab a ride in the Bay Area if we wanted to:
🚨 Tesla Robotaxi ride-hailing Service in Austin and the Bay Area has opened up for anyone on iOS
Go download the app and, if you’re in the area, hail a ride from Robotaxi pic.twitter.com/1CgzG0xk1J
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) November 18, 2025
The launch of a more public Robotaxi network that allows anyone to access it seems to be a serious move of confidence by Tesla, as it is no longer confining the service to influencers who are handpicked by the company.
In the coming weeks, we expect Tesla to then rid these vehicles of the Safety Monitors as Musk predicted. If it can come through on that by the end of the year, the six-month period where Tesla went from launching Robotaxi to enabling driverless rides is incredibly impressive.
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Tesla analyst sees Full Self-Driving adoption rates skyrocketing: here’s why
“You’ll see increased adoption as people are exposed to it. I’ve been behind the wheel of several of these and the different iterations of FSD, and it is getting better and better. It’s something when people experience it, they will be much more comfortable utilizing FSD and paying for it.”
Tesla analyst Stephen Gengaro of Stifel sees Full Self-Driving adoption rates skyrocketing, and he believes more and more people will commit to paying for the full suite or the subscription service after they try it.
Full Self-Driving is Tesla’s Level 2 advanced driver assistance suite (ADAS), and is one of the most robust on the market. Over time, the suite gets better as the company accumulates data from every mile driven by its fleet of vehicles, which has swelled to over five million cars sold.
The suite features a variety of advanced driving techniques that many others cannot do. It is not your typical Traffic-Aware Cruise Control (TACC) and Lane Keeping ADAS system. Instead, it can handle nearly every possible driving scenario out there.
It still requires the driver to pay attention and ultimately assume responsibility for the vehicle, but their hands are not required to be on the steering wheel.
It is overwhelmingly impressive, and as a personal user of the FSD suite on a daily basis, I have my complaints, but overall, there are very few things it does incorrectly.
Tesla Full Self-Driving (Supervised) v14.1.7 real-world drive and review
Gengaro, who increased his Tesla price target to $508 yesterday, said in an interview with CNBC that adoption rates of FSD will increase over the coming years as more people try it for themselves.
At first, it is tough to feel comfortable with your car literally driving you around. Then, it becomes second nature.
Gengaro said:
“You’ll see increased adoption as people are exposed to it. I’ve been behind the wheel of several of these and the different iterations of FSD, and it is getting better and better. It’s something when people experience it, they will be much more comfortable utilizing FSD and paying for it.”
Tesla Full Self-Driving take rates also have to increase as part of CEO Elon Musk’s recently approved compensation package, as one tranche requires ten million active subscriptions in order to win that portion of the package.
The company also said in the Q3 2025 Earnings Call in October that only 12 percent of the current ownership fleet are paid customers of Full Self-Driving, something the company wants to increase considerably moving forward.
Tesla Robotaxi Safety Monitor seems to doze off during Bay Area ride
Tesla opens Robotaxi access to everyone — but there’s one catch
