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4 7 S I M P LY A B U DH A B I This was followed in April when Sir Richard Branson revealed the Vision 2030 Hyperloop Pod to His Royal Highness Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince and Minister of Defense of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. ‘We look forward to advancing the relationship between KSA and VHO while we develop innovative transport technologies, accelerating Vision 2030 objectives to transform the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from a technology consumer to a technology innovator,’ His Royal Highness, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz said. “Hyperloop is the catalyst to enable all fourth-generation technologies to flourish in the Kingdom while creating a vibrant society and thriving economy through visionary cities and high-tech clusters.’ Traveling fromRiyadh to AbuDhabi would take 48minutes instead of eight and a half hours, while traveling from Riyadh to Jeddah is estimated to be 76 minutes as opposed to 10 hours for both passengers and freight. Sir Richard again visited the UAE in April to join Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, Group Chairman and CEO of DPWorld to announce the launch of DP World Cargospeed, that is designed to transport both passengers and cargo at the speed of air but for the price of ground transportation. ‘Travel between airports that normally last one and a half hours will be done in six minutes,’ Sir Richard said in Dubai. 'Hyperloop pods can go to individual gates and then with other technologies such as iris scanning and mobile check in, you can hop right on to the plane,’ he added. DP World Cargospeed is planned to be a mixed-use system where the Hyperloop would carry passengers during peak hours and switch to freight for other times. ‘This will change the way that cargo is moved,’ Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, said. ‘Today our role is not in the port; our role starts when the cargo leaves the factory. With this technology we can go anywhere in the world in less than 14 hours at 1,200 km/h. ‘This is disruptive innovation that we can't ignore and our investment is in survival and innovation,’ he said. Virgin Hyperloop One claims that once the feasibility studies are complete, along with safety testing and regulatory building approvals, the UAE could see its first Hyperloop running by 2025 which would carry both cargo and passengers.