Hyperloop One to build first Hyperloop System in UAE

DUBAI, UAE — Los Angeles-based start-up Hyperloop One has signed an agreement with Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority to build the world’s first Hyperloop system, which will connect Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

The stations for Hyperloop One’s system, called Hyperportals, will be located in the city centers. The Hyperportal in Abu Dhabi will be located near the Etihad Towers, while the one in Dubai will be located near the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa.

Passengers will travel in pods, which come in four different configurations: cargo, coach, meeting, and lounge. The pods will pick up passengers at gates and travel autonomously to an underground level. There, they will be loaded inside a transporter capsule. Each transporter capsule will carry four pods.

The capsules will be propelled by compressed air using magnetic levitation, which eliminates friction, inside a tube kept at a near-vacuum, to eliminate air resistance. They can travel at a speed up to 1,200 km per hour. The Hyperloop will reduce the normal two-hour travel time by car between Abu Dhabi to Dubai to just 12 minutes.

The capsules will stop at the Hyperportal upon arrival, while the autonomous pods can either stop at the gates or continue beyond the Hyperportal to take the passengers to destinations in the city.

Hyperloop One said in a press release that the infrastructure does not have to work with the pods alone and could work with other self-driving vehicles in the future.