Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has revealed it is studying a new underground transport network designed to work alongside the city's surface and elevated transit systems, as officials look to reshape how urban space is used and open fresh avenues for investment.
RTA director-general Mattar Al Tayer said Dubai now logs more than 11 million trips a day across its road network, equivalent to roughly 7,000 journeys every minute. The emirate's population reached 4.58 million by the end of 2025, up 7.5 per cent year-on-year, and more than six million people move through the city during daylight hours — a figure authorities expect to nearly double to 12 million by 2040.
The first phase of the underlying project, the Dubai Loop, is already under way in partnership with Elon Musk's Boring Company. Costing around Dh565 million ($153.8 million), it uses autonomous Tesla vehicles to link DIFC with Dubai Mall, with stations at Burj Khalifa, DIFC 2, Zabeel-Dubai Mall parking and ICD Brookfield Place. The full network is planned to stretch 22km across 19 stations, at an estimated cost of Dh2 billion.
Dubai's autonomous vehicles have already covered more than four million kilometres over the past year, part of a broader push to have one in four trips in the city made autonomously by 2030. Officials say the wider shift toward autonomous and underground mobility could save Dh319 billion in infrastructure costs over time while generating Dh156 billion in added economic value. "We are redefining how space is used, opening new opportunities for investment and prosperity," Al Tayer said.