For years people have wondered when the future was going to begin. Cars and airplanes were created, humans landed on the moon, and the UAE turned from a desert to one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world.
The UAE’s transportation sector has been developing at lightning speed, especially for a region that once had to rely on travelling by camels. The RTA now has metros, trams and will soon be creating the first flying taxi in the world. To add to this fleet of innovative success, the UAE plans to launch a Hyperloop by Expo 2020.
The Dubai Future Accelerator programme in August 2016, led by H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, and ruler of Dubai, was the beginning. Hyperloop One, the Los Angeles-based company was invited to participate in the programme, only two months before announcing their agreement with RTA for a future plan.
At his point you’re probably wondering, what exactly is a Hyperloop?
Scientifically speaking, the HyperLoop One is a mode of transport that will allow passengers and cargo to be loaded into a pod; which will then accelerate gradually via electric propulsion through a low-pressure tube. The pod lifts above the track using magnetic levitation and glides at airline speeds for long distances due to ultra-low aerodynamic drag.
Remember those giant tubes that take passengers across hundreds and thousands of miles of distance in short amounts of time in the Star Trek movies? That’s kind of like what the Hyperloop is.
Designed to travel at speeds close to 1,077 km/h, Hyperloop One will allow transportation between Dubai and Abu Dhabi in as little as 12 minutes. Not only that but the Hyperloop will also be able to connect the UAE with neighbouring countries, such as Oman and Saudi Arabia.
This isn’t just science fiction either, as tests have already been carried out. The Hyperloop One has completed its first set of tests in the Nevada desert, where an impressive top speed of 310 km/h was recorded on the first trial conducted on the passenger pod.
A very pleased Shervin Pishevar, co-founder of Hyperloop One said, “This is the beginning, and the dawn of a new era of transportation.”
Hyperloop hopes to become a form of global transportation that signals the start of a new era of travel. It’s an era where smartphones will be replaced by Google Glasses, self-lacing “Nike Hyper Adapts” will become the hottest fashion trend, and robots will be doing your dishes. Most importantly, that journey to and from Abu Dhabi will be a whole lot quicker.
