Mobility: How Expo 2020 Dubai is beckoning a technology-led future

Mobility: How Expo 2020 Dubai is beckoning a technology-led future

Snarky comments, overall scepticism and outright ridicule – there weren’t a dearth of any of these when Elon Musk published a white paper on the Hyperloop concept in 2013. Eight years on, Musk has proved to not only be a visionary, but also a pragmatic one at that. In November last year, the Dubai-based DP World-backed Virgin Hyperloop took the concept from paper to reality in a test run with two passengers transported by the system in Nevada. One of the three core themes at Expo is mobility, and the UAE has been a frontrunner when it comes to demonstrating the future possibility of this sector. The Dubai Autonomous Transportation Strategy, for example, aims for 25 per cent of all transportation in the emirate to be smart and driverless by 2030. And it’s already had a healthy head start. The Dubai Metro is the world’s longest driverless network and celebrated its 12th anniversary last month, having carried 1.706 billion passengers as of the end of August. The Dubai Taxi Corporation’s (DTC) Strategic Plan 2021-2023 meanwhile commits to converting 5 per cent of the city’s taxi fleet to autonomous mode by 2023 and having around 4,000 self-driving taxis by 2030 –