Trial and fleet upgrades announced at AccessAbilities Expo 2026, 19 October 2026. dnata describes the self-driving wheelchair as a potential future service with no confirmed launch date.
How the trial works
The autonomous wheelchair is being tested in the D concourse of Terminal 1. Four LiDAR cameras map the surroundings as the chair travels from the lounge to the boarding gate, and staff can take manual control or stop the chair at any time. dnata is careful about expectations: it calls the project a potential future service rather than a launch, gives no date for wider use, and says only that an expansion to Terminal 3 is under consideration. For passengers, the key point is that the trial does not change how assistance is booked today — it is an experiment running alongside the existing staffed service, not a replacement for it.
New equipment joining the fleet
The trial was announced together with a hardware refresh. dnata has added three new ambulifts — the lifting vehicles that raise passengers with reduced mobility to aircraft door level — and 24 custom-built accessible shuttle buses designed to carry passengers together with their personal mobility aids. Three stackable power wheelchairs have also been introduced, a practical addition for peak periods when standard airport wheelchairs run short. Taken together, the message is that dnata is investing in both experimental technology and the unglamorous equipment that determines day-to-day reliability.
The scale of the operation
dnata put numbers on its accessibility work for the first time in detail: it assists around two million passengers with accessibility needs at Dubai International each year, and more than 3,500 of its employees have completed hidden-disability training. The former “Special Handling” department has been formally renamed “Accessible Travel”, and hearing loop systems are now installed at ten service points across Terminals 1, 2 and 3. Those figures matter more than any single gadget: at an airport of DXB's size, the consistency of staffed assistance decides most journeys.
What it means for your next trip through DXB
If you are flying through Dubai soon, nothing about this announcement changes your planning. Book wheelchair assistance through your airline as usual — most airlines ask for at least 48 hours' notice — and confirm exactly where you will be met after landing. The autonomous chair is worth watching because the lounge-to-gate transfer is one of the weakest links in airport assistance worldwide, but until dnata sets a launch date, staffed assistance remains the service that counts.
