Prime Highlights
- The Boring Company has begun construction on the Dubai Loop, advancing Dubai’s next-generation transport network.
- The underground system will slash travel times and ease congestion with autonomous electric vehicles.
Key Facts
- The AED565 million project will connect DIFC and Dubai Mall before expanding to a 22-km, 19-station network.
- The Dubai Loop is expected to carry up to 30,000 passengers daily once fully operational.
Background
The Boring Company, founded by Elon Musk, has poured the first concrete for the Dubai Loop, marking the start of construction on the city’s new underground transport system. Workers have now laid the foundations for the project’s first phase.
Dubai launched the project to tackle worsening traffic congestion as the city’s population has grown faster than its existing roads and transport network can handle. Officials see the underground loop as a major step toward easing that pressure.
The Boring Company signed a formal partnership agreement with Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority to build the system, which closely mirrors the company’s existing Las Vegas Loop. Plans for the project moved forward at the World Governments Summit held in Dubai earlier in 2026.
Musk founded the Boring Company in 2016 and provided much of its early funding himself. His other company, SpaceX, holds a 6% stake in the business. Like several of Musk’s other ventures, the company operates with a long-term focus and faces little pressure from outside shareholders.
Construction on the first phase calls for 25,000 precast concrete pieces, weighing a combined 45,000 tonnes. The Roads and Transport Authority said in February that the project would cost around $153.8 million, or 565 million UAE dirhams.
Once complete, the Dubai Loop will link the Dubai International Financial Centre with Dubai Mall using self-driving Tesla vehicles, cutting a 20-minute trip down to just three minutes. The first four stations will open at Burj Khalifa, DIFC 2, Zabeel Dubai Mall Parking, and ICD Brookfield Place.
The full network will eventually stretch 22 kilometres and include 19 stations, with electric vehicles running through tunnels measuring 3.6 metres wide. Officials expect the first phase to carry over 13,000 passengers a day, a figure they say could climb to 30,000 once the entire route opens.
