By Jana Choukeir and Yousef Saba
DUBAI (Reuters) - Elon Musk's The Boring Company and Dubai's Road and Transport Authority (RTA) have signed an initial agreement to build the Dubai Loop, an underground high-speed transport network spanning 17km (10.6 miles), they said on Friday.
The United Arab Emirates' Artificial Intelligence Minister, Omar Al Olama, announced the project on a video interview with Elon Musk during the World Governments Summit on Thursday without providing further detail.
The Boring Company (TBC) said the memorandum of understanding covers an initial pilot phase of 11 stations, transporting passengers in electric vehicles through tunnels at speeds up to 160km per hour.
It will be similar to the Vegas Loop, which began transporting passengers in EVs through tunnels in 2021. It has five stations around a convention centre in the U.S. city and is aiming for a total of more than 100.
Musk, who also owns EV maker Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), aerospace company SpaceX and was appointed by U.S. President Donald Trump to run the newly created Department of Government Efficiency, first touted his vision of a futuristic Hyperloop transport system more than a decade ago.
Dubai Loop will cover the most congested areas of Dubai, the emirate's government media office said on X, the social platform owned by Musk.
The aim is to carry more than 20,000 passengers per hour initially, with eventual capacity of more than 100,000 people per hour.
No timeline was given for the project.