The world’s first fleet of self-driving cars is set to hit the road in Dubai within three years.

Two hundred of Tesla’s self-driving, electric taxis will initially be used on ‘autopilot’, with an actual driver behind the wheel for emergencies. But they will come with the hardware needed for full self-driving capability.

Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) plans to test run the cars’ autonomous driving mode, with the goal of making Dubai the ‘smartest city’ in the world by 2020, the Gulf News has reported.

RTA is buying Model S saloons and Model X SUVs to be used by the Dubai Taxi Corporation.

The purchase is part of the Dubai Smart Autonomous Mobility Strategy aimed at transforming 25 per cent of journeys in Dubai into autonomous trips by 2030.

In October last year, Tesla founder Elon Musk announced all future Teslas will come equipped with hardware that can be upgraded to give the cars self-driving capability.

The government of the United Arab Emirates bought the taxis a day after Tesla announced it would open its first Middle East office in Dubai.

Dubai is one of seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates. Seen as the most diversified state in the Gulf, Dubai has a population of 2.5 million people, most of them expats.