Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has taken a futuristic leap by deploying drones to wash and brighten traffic signal lights across the city. Until now, cleaning dust-covered signals on busy roads required cranes, tall ladders, and extensive manpower. With the introduction of drones, a task that once demanded heavy logistics is now completed with remarkable ease and precision.
The biggest advantage of the drone-washing system is that traffic remains uninterrupted, even on the busiest roads. Equipped with a high-pressure water spray mechanism, the drones can swiftly clean signal lights without blocking lanes or causing delays. As a result, the overall cost of cleaning traffic lights has dropped to less than half of earlier expenses.
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Beyond financial savings, the initiative delivers significant environmental benefits. Traditional methods required large trucks to remain idling for hours while workers cleaned the signals from mounted ladders—consuming fuel and adding to air pollution. By replacing these heavy vehicles with compact drones, RTA says it is saving time, money, and fuel, while substantially reducing carbon emissions.
Pilot trials of the drone-based cleaning were conducted at the Marrakech Street–Rabat Street junctions. During the test phase, traffic was temporarily halted as a safety precaution, given that the drones were being operated on an experimental basis.
According to RTA, the trials resulted in a time saving of 25 to 50 per cent in cleaning operations, along with a 15 per cent reduction in costs—expected to rise to 25 per cent once the system is fully rolled out. When implemented on a larger scale, the drone technology will allow traffic signal lights to be cleaned at regular intervals without disrupting traffic flow, marking another step forward in Dubai’s smart mobility and sustainable city vision.
