UAE to build underground transport system ‘Dubai Loop’ with Elon Musk

Dubai: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has announced a partnership with Elon Musk’s Boring Company to develop the ‘Dubai Loop’, an underground transportation system designed to connect the city’s most densely populated areas.

According to a Gulf News report, Omar Sultan Al-Alama, UAE Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications and Vice Chair of the World Government Summit, announced during a plenary session with Elon Musk at the World Government Summit (WGS).

“Today we announce the joint project of the Dubai Loop, which is a loop project that is going to cover the most densely populated areas of Dubai so that people can move from one place to another without any obstacles. We hope to change people’s lives,” he said.

Elon Musk, speaking virtually at WGS in a session titled ‘Boring Cities, AI, and DOGE’, said, “It will be a ‘wormhole’-style project. You just go from one part of the city into the ‘wormhole’, boom, and come out at another point in the city, and it’s great”.

The wormhole refers to the idea that the project would allow for travel like a wormhole.

He added, “It will be cool, I think it will be very interesting. Once people try it they will say, ‘Wow, this is really cool!’ It seems very obvious in the background, but until you actually do it, you don’t know, it’s going to be great.”

The Boring Company is an infrastructure and tunnel construction services company founded by Elon Musk in 2016, designed to solve urban traffic congestion by developing underground transportation systems.

The company focuses on low-cost, fast-dug tunnels that can be used for vehicles, freight, and rapid transit.

Will it be a Vegas Loop-style like project?

It is not immediately clear whether the Dubai Loop will follow the Las Vegas model of The Boring Company's Loop project exactly.

The Las Vegas Convention Center Loop (LVCC Loop) is an underground transportation system located at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The Vegas Loop is designed to transport passengers in Tesla Model III cars at high speeds.