Still in its infancy, the hyperloop is set to change the way we travel. Faster than current rail and even air transportation, if all goes to plan, the system could represent the largest shake-up to global travel and transport, since the launch of the world’s first scheduled passenger airline service in 1914.
Hyperloop technology comprises a sealed tube through which a pod travels free from air resistance or friction, potentially cutting travel times from hours to minutes. The technology has been adopted by city governments around the world, and has found particularly enthusiastic support in Dubai, which has become synonymous with the development of breakthrough future tech.
With permission from Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) one US-based company, Virgin Hyperloop One, has begun exploring ways to connect the city to the wider UAE and beyond. And this week the firm, which is based in the US, unveiled DP World Cargospeed, a proposed new venture that could one day move goods anywhere in the world in just 48 hours.
But what makes Dubai the ideal location to roll out the region’s first hyperloop network? On the eve of Future Technology Week 2018, we asked Harj Dhaliwal, Managing Director for Middle East & India at Hyperloop One, to explain.