21st October 2024 Thousands of people from across the globe descended on the Dubai World Trade Centre for GITEX 2024, one of the largest tech expos in the world. Sponsored by giants like Middle-East telecoms powerhouse Etisalat And (E&) and Huawei, GITEX 2024 promised the latest in enterprise solutions, AI, ecommerce, mobiles and consumer tech with over 6 500 exhibitors and government delegates from more than 180 countries. Hypertext was on hand the whole week to cover the expo and while we were disappointed that the “latest tech” on hand was more cutting edge than the bleeding edge we were promised – for example, Adobe didn’t have their latest video-generating AI model for us to test – there was still loads to see in the enormous trade centre. One of the Tesla Cybertruck’s fielded by the Dubai Police General Command. The police of Dubai introduced a number of Tesla Cybertrucks to its fleet of squad cars earlier this year, and had one of the vehicles at GITEX, in the government technology wing of the expo. The city of Dubai showed off its latest in municipal digital solutions and other innovations launched by the government of the UAE. Folding in Cybertrucks into the police fleet perfectly encapsulated Dubai’s style of flash over substance. The vehicles are infamously unreliable, having been recalled en masse across the United States several times this year alone to deal with design and technical flaws, like the accelerator getting stuck, depleting tyre treads, rust and worse. When it comes to ecommerce in the Middle-East, there are no bigger names than E&, which showed off its latest in ride-hailing and drone tech at its sprawling, and busy, exhibit hall. Wings Logistics Hub offers drones and passenger flyers now in the United Arab Emirates, with this machine being one of its largest haulers of goods. Drones and electric verticle take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft were a major piece of the E& display, with a number of concept vehicles and bonafide flying machines stationed around the floor. The UAE is investing heavily in companies that can bring autonomous vehicles capable of navigating its busy skyline, including Wings Logistics Hub, XPeng and EHang. The XPeng AreoHT eVTOL, a mixture of a drone and a sports car, will be launched worldwide in 2026. Careem is a Pakistan-made ehailing, food delivery and fintech platform that has partnered with the government of Dubai for a number of solutions. The platform is also expanding into logistics, with a partnership with South Korean Mobinn. They are offering a little robot capable of navigating the long stairwells of Dubai’s many, many skyscrapers to deliver your groceries or your McDonald’s order. “We aim to introduce autonomous delivery and patrol robots to the Middle East through our collaboration with Etisalat and use this as a stepping stone to expand into the global market,” Mobinn CEO Choi Jin told Business Korea last week. Meanwhile the Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC) of the UAE is looking to host the second edition of the Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League in April next year, with self-driving essentially Formula 1 racers replacing drivers. They had one of the vehicles present at GITEX 2024. The first edition of the event went terribly, with autonomous cars crashing into walls and or just stopped randomly throughout the race. Here’s hoping the next edition of the AWS-sponsored event goes better. Sneaker X.