1001 Smart Cities
🇦🇪 Abu Dhabi

Darb: Number-Plate Recognition Road Tolling

🤖 AI-generated summary of the sources below · 🔎 Last verified

This overview was generated with AI from the public sources listed below and checked against them before publication. It has not had a complete human fact-check — treat it as a starting point and follow the sources.

How this atlas is made · What “last verified” means

Since 2 January 2021, Abu Dhabi's Darb system has charged AED4 per crossing during peak windows at the bridges onto Abu Dhabi Island, using number-plate cameras and an auto-deducted digital wallet instead of Dubai-style windscreen tags. Daily/monthly caps were scrapped in September 2025, and two 24/7 gates opened on Sheikh Zayed Street and near the Dubai border in May 2026 — six gates total. Q Mobility, an ADQ subsidiary, has run it since 2024 under Abu Dhabi Mobility's oversight.

Live 📅 since 2021
Outcome🔄 Ongoing
Evidence• No measured figure
Run byQ Mobility (ADQ subsidiary), under Abu Dhabi Mobility / Integrated Transport Centre regulatory oversight
Scale🏙️ City-wide
🚲 MobilityCongestion pricingSensors & IoT

Sources

↗ Abu Dhabi Mobility — Darb overview (official)Legal basis (Law 17/2017), fees, exemptions, caps removed.
↗ Abu Dhabi Mobility — Darb fees (official)Current AED4 fee and peak-hour windows.
↗ Abu Dhabi Media Office — two new gates (official, May 2026)Al Qurm/Ghantoot gates, 24/7, six gates total, stated rationale.
↗ Abu Dhabi Media Office — September 2025 amendments (official)Caps removed, peak hours extended to 3-7pm.
↗ Gulf News — original 2021 launch (established press)Confirms 2 January 2021 launch and four original bridge locations.
↗ Gulf News — ANPR and locations (established press)No physical tag needed; number-plate recognition.
↗ ADQ Newsroom — Q Mobility established (official)Q Mobility is a wholly-owned ADQ subsidiary running Darb since 2024 under DMT/ITC oversight.

Continue exploring

Compare this project

🇦🇪 Adaptive Ramp Metering on Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Street · Abu Dhabi Both run by Abu Dhabi Mobility/ITC on the same road network — one prices bridge crossings, the other throttles ramp merges. 🇸🇬 Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) Network · Singapore Both replace toll booths with camera-read, auto-deducted road pricing — Singapore's gantries date to 1998, Darb's cameras to 2021. 🇦🇪 Hafilat: Abu Dhabi's Cashless Bus Fare Card · Abu Dhabi Both are cashless payment layers run by Abu Dhabi Mobility — one for bus fares, the other for bridge tolls.

Explore the wider context

🛰️ Fifty years of congestion pricing💷 Congestion pricing guide🏙️ Abu Dhabi city profile🚲 Mobility projects📖 Low-emission zone📖 Adaptive traffic signals📖 Automated speed enforcement (speed cameras)
📎 Cite this project

1001 Smart Cities (2026). “Darb: Number-Plate Recognition Road Tolling” — Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The Smart City Atlas. https://1001smartcities.org/projects/abu-dhabi-darb-toll/ (last verified 2026-08-08). Data: CC BY 4.0.

The underlying data is free to reuse with attribution — see the open data page.

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