The super quick service will now be introduced to the UAE in five years instead of the next decade.

The shift towards online shopping first as a way to secure essentials in a lockdown, and then as a post-pandemic trend to buy apparel as well as electronics online, has also opened doors for innovation that can speed up deliveries. Global e-commerce giants eyeing the Emirati maket, along with emerging local online stores, have started deploying robots at their warehouses, while brick and mortar shops going hybrid are now equipped with smart kiosks as well as touch-free payment solutions.

Autonomous vehicles are being used at ports, AI is connecting smart boats carrying goods with clients and even drones have been launched to monitor trucks carrying cargo on highways in the UAE. But the most talked about transportation tech of the past decade is going to be the real game-changer for the Middle East's supply chain, and Virgin Hyperloop has just announced that it might arrive earlier than anticipated.

Expected to cut down the time for carrying products between major cities like Dubai to Abu Dhabi, to little more than 10 minutes, the hyperloop network can be active in five years. Based on pods being propelled forward at speeds of more than 1000 kilometre an hour in a pressure controlled tube, the tech is being developed at Abu Dhabi's innovation hub with funding from a Dubai-based firm.

After being successfully tested with passengers on board, hyperloop is also promising to be a revolutionary addition to public transport between cities across the gulf. Which is why it's great news that instead of earlier forecasts for its arrival in the next decade, the super quick cargo service may be available for business in just five years.

Restrictions during the lockdown have meant that ships and flights on a global scale are delayed at ports, while aircrafts makings short trips are replacing trucks. The rising costs and time taken for delivering products, at a time when demand from online channels is higher than ever before, has prompted hyperloop's backer DP World to push for an earlier launch.