Musk’s Boring Company will open ‘Dubai Loop’ next year, UAE says

A Boring Company facility in Bastrop, Texas. Photo / Jordan Vonderhaar, Bloomberg via The Washington Post

Commuters in Dubai will be able to ride in Elon Musk’s underground transit system as soon as next year, according to an Emirati official.

Musk announced plans for a Dubai Loop in February, in partnership with the United Arab Emirates Government, as the latest project for his tunnelling venture the Boring Company.

The company said the initial phase would cover 17km of tunnels and carry 20,000 passengers an hour.

“The first loop is going to be operational, we’re hoping, by the second quarter of 2026,” Omar Al Olama, the UAE Minister for Artificial Intelligence, said in an interview.

The infrastructure project is part of Dubai’s efforts to reduce congestion from its growing population, often with futuristic solutions. It has also unveiled pilots of air taxi services from California’s Joby Aviation Inc. and Chinese competitors.

The UAE has pitched itself as a welcome host to novel technologies, like flying cars and AI chatbots, with light-touch regulation and audacious expansion plans.

If the Dubai Loop materialises, it would be a rare success for Musk’s tunnelling firm. The only public, functioning Loop built by the Boring Company is in Las Vegas where Tesla Inc. vehicles driven by human drivers shuttle passengers between stations.

It isn’t clear whether the Dubai Loop will rely on Tesla cars, but the Boring Company and Musk have floated various modes of transport such as vacuum pods and driverless vehicles.

The company’s lead architect recently left the company, Bloomberg reported in September.

The Dubai project is one of several forays Musk’s companies have made in the Gulf region, including the expansion of his Starlink terminals. Musk has also pitched Boring Company tunnels and robotaxis in Saudi Arabia.

A Boring Company representative could not be reached.

Al Olama said the Dubai Loop will eventually include “multiple loops” but declined to offer a time-line. His office did not immediately comment about the project’s costs.

The minister also said that the country expects the first shipment of Nvidia Corp. high-end AI chips before the end of the year.

In May, the country was selected as the first site for OpenAI’s Stargate project outside of the US, with plans for a five gigawatt AI data centre developed with Oracle Corp and others. Bloomberg reported that US officials recently approved several billion dollars worth of chip exports to American customers working in the UAE.

An upcoming shipment would be “one of the stepping stones for the Stargate project,” said Al Olama.

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