US-based pioneering mobility company Hyperloop One has signed an agreement with Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) to study high-speed routes that will reduce travel time between Abu Dhabi and Dubai to 12 minutes from the present two-hour drive.

With this deal, the UAE is one step closer to being the world’s first location for a new form of high-speed transport, and the emirates could see a Hyperloop ‘within next five years’, said a statement from the Los Angeles-based company.

Taking a major step on its path to defining the future of transportation, Hyperloop One said it will work with McKinsey & Company and the Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) on a detailed feasibility study being sponsored by the RTA.

The agreement moves the company into its next stage of progress in Dubai, following a successful engagement in the Dubai Future Accelerators, which culminated in a presentation of Hyperloop One's value proposition to His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

Under this pact, both will jointly explore routes for a transport system between Abu Dhabi and Dubai which will reduce journey times for people and goods between the two emirates to just 12 minutes.

The Los Angeles-based company said it is reinventing transportation by developing the world's first hyperloop, an integrated structure to move passengers and cargo between two points immediately, safely, efficiently, and sustainably.

Additionally, Hyperloop One unveiled an original concept for autonomous transportation in the UAE, including designs for the world's first Hyperloop One Portals (the equivalent of a station or airport) and Hyperloop One Pods that can take passengers from Dubai to Abu Dhabi in 12 minutes, compared to a two-hour drive.

The work is the result of deep collaboration between Hyperloop One and BIG's amazing team of architects and engineers. Both announcements were revealed at the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.   

"Technology is evolving and transforming how we live, yet we lack real innovation in mass transportation and the current system has stagnated. Hyperloop One is focused on transport that's far more efficient, fast and clean. It will change the dynamics of how we move goods and people," remarked Shervin Pishevar, the executive chairman, Hyperloop One.

"Dubai makes perfect sense for Hyperloop One because this is the 21st century's global transport hub and its leaders understand that Hyperloop One is ushering in the next era of transportation," he stated.

Under the terms the agreement, Hyperloop One will work with McKinsey and BIG to evaluate the implementation of a passenger Hyperloop in Dubai. This announcement is the second partner agreement Hyperloop One has signed in Dubai and the sixth worldwide.

The company announced a deal in August to pursue a cargo Hyperloop One system with ports operator DP World at its deepwater Jebel Ali port in Dubai. Its growing presence on the ground in the UAE underscores the demand for Hyperloop One technology for passengers and freight in the country.

RTA chairman Mattar Al Tayer said: "This is an opportunity to help transform the UAE from a technology consumer to a technology creator, incubating expertise for a new global industry, in line with the UAE's Vision 2021. With Hyperloop One, we will create a new means of transportation, keeping our region at the forefront of transportation technology and innovation."

The engineers, architects and designers from Hyperloop One and BIG have collaborated intensively for six months to produce a comprehensive human experience for Hyperloop travel.

The US company is showcasing the first-ever routes from Dubai to Abu Dhabi, several Portal sites throughout Dubai and the conceptual interiors and exteriors of the individual passenger Pods.

The work is based on a detailed study of how an urban and inter-city transport network should integrate with the existing infrastructure. It's autonomous, point-to-point and vastly simplifies the experience of getting from your front door to your destination, it stated.  

"We're going to create a seamless experience that starts the moment you think about being somewhere - not going somewhere," remarked Josh Giegel, the president of Engineering, Hyperloop One.

"We don't sell cars, boats, trains, or planes. We sell time. This puts an end to us being a 'pod-in-a-tube' or 'fast train from SF to LA' company," he said.

"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," observed Bjarke Ingels, founder, BIG.

"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."

In less than two years, Hyperloop One has raised more than $160 million, assembled a team of more than 200 world-class experts, and built a campus in Downtown LA, a test and safety site in the Nevada desert, and a 100,000-sq-ft machine and tooling shop in North Las Vegas.

In addition, the company has established a global partner network with industry leaders such as GE, SNCF, DP World, AECOM, Arup, Systra, Ramboll, and KPMG.

"The momentum is global and accelerating," said Hyperloop One CEO Rob Lloyd. "The world will see the test of the first full-scale Hyperloop system in early 2017 at our test and safety site in Nevada and we will have multiple operational Hyperloop systems within five years," he added.-TradeArabia News Service