Last week brought news that Dubai’s long-anticipated underground transport project — the Dubai Loop — will see its first segment up and running in 2026. Built by Elon Musk’s Boring Company in partnership with Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), the system promises to carry 20,000 passengers per hour through a sleek, subterranean network connecting key parts of the city. UAE Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Omar Sultan Al Olama, confirmed that the first phase will be operational by mid-2026, describing it as a major stride in Dubai’s mobility vision. Musk, naturally, likened the experience to “wormhole-like travel.” Of course he did.

We decided to look into the details behind the promising project, which seems to be much closer than we thought. Here are the questions about the Loop you wanted to ask/

Imagine if the London Underground had a cousin who went to finishing school in Silicon Valley — quieter, cleaner, and far more photogenic. The Loop is a subterranean network where electric vehicles zip passengers between 11 sleek underground stations across 17 kilometres. Unlike your average metro, it swaps carriages for Teslas, steel for spectacle, and delays for… well, hopefully nothing. It is designed to move tens of thousands of people every hour — all without breaking a sweat or encountering a single roundabout.

Before we all start practising our futuristic small talk, here is what the Dubai Loop is projected to be like:

It is essentially the metro’s glamorous younger relative — less steel, more silicon, and fewer excuses for being late.

Although Musk’s name tends to eclipse everything within a five-kilometre radius, The Boring Company is only half the story. The RTA has a firm hand on the controls, ensuring that the project aligns with Dubai’s broader mobility strategy. Omar Sultan Al Olama, the UAE’s Minister for AI and Digital Economy, has helped shepherd the plan from concept to construction. In short, it isn't merely a Muskian fever dream — it is a structured collaboration between technologists and policymakers who appear to have read the manual first.

For a city that already dabbles in air taxis and robot police, going underground is almost modest. The Loop aims to take thousands of cars off the road, slicing commute times and emissions alike. Its tunnels will be insulated against earthquakes, sandstorms, and possibly the existential dread of rush hour. By freeing up surface roads, the project could make Dubai feel more fluid — a city literally running beneath itself. It is all part of a broader vision to make the emirate not only futuristic, but functionally futuristic.

That depends on your faith in rockets versus paperwork. Elon Musk’s tunnelling company will finish building the first section of its underground transit system in Dubai next year, according to the UAE’s Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Omar Sultan Al Olama. As he told Bloomberg, “The first loop is going to be operational, we’re hoping, by the second quarter of 2026.” Mars, on the other hand, remains more of an inspirational screensaver. The odds currently favour Dubai’s underground over space’s red dust — and frankly, given the air conditioning situation, the UAE may already have the better atmosphere.

Both answers can be true. The Las Vegas Loop has already shown that the concept works, at least on a smaller scale. Dubai’s version is its grown-up sibling — faster, larger, and possibly self-driving. Whether it will become a global blueprint or a particularly shiny one-off remains to be seen. What is clear, though, is that Dubai isn't waiting for the future to arrive; it is busy building it — one very expensive tunnel at a time.