Elon Musk and his Boring Company have signed a preliminary agreement to introduce the Dubai Loop, an underground transportation system designed to connect the city’s most densely populated areas.
Omar Sultan Al Olama, UAE Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy, and Remote Work Applications, and Vice Chair of the World Governments Summit, announced the deal on Thursday during a plenary session with Elon Musk at the World Governments Summit.
Boring Company will partner with Dubai authorities to look at constructing tunnels that carry vehicles underneath the city, similar to the Las Vegas Loop, which uses all Tesla vehicles. That system carries convention centre visitors in high-speed tunnels to avoid surface traffic.
Describing it as a ‘wormhole’, Musk stated you will board from one part of the city, and then you’re out in another part.
The Dubai Government later described the deal as a strategic partnership to “study the implementation of the Dubai Loop” and shared an image of Dubai Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan overseeing the signing with Boring Company officials.
The proposed system would span 17km with 11 stations, capable of transporting 20,000 passengers per hour, though few additional details were provided.
In comparison, the existing Las Vegas Loop operates beneath one of the world’s largest convention centres. Constructing its tunnels and five stations for 70 driverless vehicles took two years. The long-term vision includes a vast citywide network linking the airport, hotels, casinos, and over 100 stations.
Similar to Dubai, Las Vegas faces extreme heat, making underground transport a viable solution for future urban mobility.
Underground 3D transport
Mr Musk added that underground travel is a safer option than travel by flying cars, and is less likely to be disrupted by poor weather or other external factors.
“Underground is a good place to be in a worst-case scenario for global thermonuclear warfare,” he said.
But what is really useful about the tunnels is alleviating traffic and congested areas, Mr Musk added.
“Now the challenge going above ground or with any kind of flying object is that it tends to be very noisy and generate a lot of wind force,” he said.
“If you have bad weather, like let’s say there’s a blizzard or a sandstorm or something, well, now nobody can fly. None of these problems exist with underground travel.
“We have a demonstration case of this in Las Vegas, connecting the whole city with all of the big hotels and the convention centre, the airport and everything.”
Other futuristic transportation modes at Dubai
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