Dubai Loop: Elon Musk looks to build Las Vegas-style underground road network

Tunnel system measuring 17km would ease congestion in the city’s busiest areas, World Governments Summit told

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Elon Musk and his Boring Company have signed an initial deal to bring an underground road system to Dubai, named the Dubai Loop.

The billionaire tech tycoon and UAE's AI minister Omar Al Olama announced the project on the final day of the World Governments Summit.

Boring Company will partner with Dubai authorities to look at constructing tunnels that carry vehicles underneath the city, similar to the Las Vegas Loop, which uses all Tesla vehicles. That system carries convention centre visitors in high-speed tunnels to avoid surface traffic.

"Once people try it out they're going to say wow, it's really cool. It's going to seem so obvious in retrospect," Mr Musk said.

"It's going to be like a wormhole, from one part of the city, boom, and you're at another part of the city, and it's great. We look forward to his partnership."

Mr Al Olama said the project would cover "Dubai's most densely populated areas for people to go from point to point, in a seamless manner".

It's going to be like a wormhole, from one part of the city, boom, and you're at another part of the city

Elon Musk

"We're going to join the first trip, in the first pod, when it's completed," Mr Al Olama added.

The Dubai Government later said the deal was a strategic partnership to "study the implementation of the Dubai Loop", and shared a picture of Dubai Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan overseeing the signing of the deal with Boring Company officials.

The government said it is looking at a 17km system with 11 stations that could carry 20,000 passengers per hour. Few further details were given.

The existing Las Vegas Loop runs underneath the convention centre, one of the world's largest. It took two years to build the tunnels and five stations for 70 driverless vehicles to navigate. The eventual plan is for a sprawling citywide system connecting the airport to hotels and casinos and more than 100 stations.

Like Dubai, Las Vegas is one of the world's hottest cities and below-ground transport is seen as ideal for future-proofing.

Mr Musk added that underground travel is a safer option than travel by flying cars, and is less likely to be disrupted by poor weather or other external factors.

"Underground is a good place to be in a worst-case scenario for global thermonuclear warfare," he said.

But what is really useful about the tunnels is alleviating traffic and congested areas, Mr Musk added.

"Now the challenge going above ground or with any kind of flying object is that it tends to be very noisy and generate a lot of wind force," he said.

'No sandstorms, no bad weather'

"If you have bad weather, like let's say there's a blizzard or a sandstorm or something, well, now nobody can fly. None of these problems exist with underground travel.

"We have a demonstration case of this in Las Vegas, connecting the whole city with all of the big hotels and the convention centre, the airport and everything."

In conversation with Mr Al Olama, Mr Musk touched on improving US government efficiencies and the potential of humanoid robots, generative AI and deep intelligence.

Tesla’s $20,000 Optimus humanoid robots are able to perform unsafe, repetitive, boring tasks otherwise undertaken by humans, such as hazardous materials disposal, housework and even social care.

Humanoid Tesla robots

Mass production of about 60,000 robots annually could be possible by 2026, according to Tesla. Their impact would be a game changer for the service industry and financial institutions, said Mr Musk.

“Once you have humanoid robots and deep intelligence, you can basically have quasi-infinite products and services available,” he said.

“With Tesla building the most advanced humanoid robot, and those human humanoid robots directed by deep intelligence, you can produce any product and provide any service.

“There's really no limit to the economy at that point, you can make anything."

While warning a dystopian future could be just a few years away, he said they way people earn a living could change.

“I'm not sure at that point if money will even be meaningful," he said.

“You have no meaningful limit on the number of robots and the robots can basically do anything then.

“You'll have a sort of universal high-income situation. It's going to be a very different world.”