Dubai to bring world’s first Hyperloop to UAE by 2020

Dubai unveiled plans on Tuesday to bring a new, high-tech transport system that could potentially cut the travel time between the emirate and the capital city of Abu Dhabi to 12 minutes.

Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) signed a deal with Los Angeles-based startup Hyperloop One to develop a prototype of a transport system, under which self-driving cars or “pods” can board a Hyperloop train to travel at speeds reaching 1,200 kilometers per hour, exceeding aircraft speed.

"The future is freedom, the future is autonomy, the future is time"
-Josh Giegel Check this out: https://t.co/H18UBe9hYb #hyperloop

— HyperloopOne (@HyperloopOne) November 8, 2016

According to the Hyperloop One website, the system “uses electric propulsion to accelerate a passenger or cargo vehicle through a tube in a low-pressure environment. The autonomous vehicle levitates slightly above the track and glides at faster-than-airline speeds over long distances.”

If implemented, this would effectively reduce travel time between Dubai and Abu Dhabi (a roughly 123-kilometer distance) to below 12 minutes, and between Dubai and Riyadh (over 1,000 kilometers) to less than 48 minutes.

The agreement is a step towards achieving the Dubai Autonomous Transportation Strategy, which aims to render 25 percent of transportation in the emirate driverless by 2030, said RTA director-general and chairman Mattar Al Tayer.

Under the deal, RTA will work with Hyperloop One to examine all aspects of connecting Dubai to different destinations by Hyperloop technology, and determine the project’s economic feasibility.

“If proven feasible, the emirate intends to implement the technology, which stands to reshape the entire transportation and logistics sector around the world,” said a statement published on the Dubai Media Office website.

“We are now at a stage where, from a technological point of view, we could have a Hyperloop One system built in the UAE in the next five years,” Hyperloop One CEO Rob Lloyd was quoted as saying in local media.

According to a report in The National, company executives said the partnership with the RTA will see both parties enter a pre-feasibility stage that should last for 90-120 days, at the end of which both entities will have a plan for the station’s locations and the network’s route. 

Write to Jerusha Sequeira at jerusha.s@argaamnews.com