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The trip from downtown Dubai to downtown Abu Dhabi could be slashed from two hours to 12 minutes with the arrival of a high-speed autonomous transportation system. That dream — previously thought to belong to a too-distant utopia — came closer to reality this week when the world-renowned Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) unveiled their design for the ultra-futuristic Hyperloop pods and portal infrastructure. Hyperloop One, the developer of the innovative scheme, is partnering with the Danish firm to conduct a feasibility study financed by the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority.
The team — which also includes Arup and AECOM — has been working on honing the concept since May 2016. The idea of a super-fast autonomous transportation system received fresh interest following the emergence of new technologies, which Tesla co-founder Elon Musk utilized to conceive the technical details of the system. The point-to-point route is selected based on passenger density and proximity to existing and future transportation hubs.
"Together with BIG, we have worked on a seamless experience that starts the moment you think about being somewhere – not going somewhere," said Josh Giegel, President of Engineering at Hyperloop One. "We don’t sell cars, boats, trains, or planes. We sell time." The system has been designed to eliminate tiresome waiting from the passenger experience. Each departure gate in the stations, called "portals," will be immediately visible upon entering the space. "With Hyperloop One we have given form to a mobility ecosystem of pods and portals, where the waiting hall has vanished along with waiting itself," said Bjarke Ingels, Founding Partner at BIG. "Hyperloop One combines collective commuting with individual freedom at near supersonic speed. We are heading for a future where our mental map of the city is completely reconfigured, as our habitual understanding of distance and proximity — time and space — is warped by this virgin form of travel."
Each passenger pod will have a six-person capacity and travel within a transporter, a pressure vessel affixed to a chassis for levitation and propulsion, accelerating the transporter to 1,100 kilometres per hour. These pods can operate autonomously from the transporter, giving each one freedom to move onto regular roads and pick up passengers at any point. The pods are loaded onto the transporter at portals, "hyperjump" to another portal, and merge onto the street to deliver passengers to their final destination. The small size of the pod paired with the high departure-rate will allow for on-demand travel. The results of the feasibility study could spell out Hyperloop's way forward, and if the project moves ahead, it would significantly alter the mobility landscape of the region.
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