As skyscrapers stretch higher, KONE launches technology for cities reaching beyond 1km
Enabling travel heights of more than 1 kilometer, control systems that think and learn, and elevators that charge themselves. New elevator technologies by KONE set to remove key constraints in supertall buildings, enabling world-record travel heights and greater design freedom.
KONE Corporation, a global leader in the elevator and escalator industry, today launches new solutions for use in high-rises and tall buildings. Combining wireless power and data transfer, self-learning AI-enabled control systems, ultralight composite ropes, and an electromechanical safety gear system, the offering addresses some of the most fundamental constraints in elevator technology and next generation urban development.
The announcement coincides with the news that technologies from KONE's high-rise solutions offering will be used in Burj Azizi, the 725-meter building in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and one of the tallest in the world upon completion. Designed as a mixed-use destination combining hotel, residential, retail, and entertainment spaces, Burj Azizi will feature one of the world's longest single elevator journeys at 631.5 meters. The project demonstrates how these innovations are already supporting complex high-rise developments underway today, while pointing towards a future of buildings rising beyond one kilometer in height.
“What was once considered a futuristic vision for cities is steadily becoming reality, with skylines reaching beyond a kilometer in height. Multi-use buildings such as the Burj Azizi are leading the way in supertall cities, seamlessly integrating living, working, hospitality, retail, and other services. KONE's new high-rise solutions are the answer to our customers’ ever-evolving urban needs and a remarkable milestone for our industry,” says Philippe Delorme, President and CEO, KONE.
Conventional elevator systems still relying on core traction principles that date back more than 150 years are increasingly becoming a limiting factor in vertical construction. As buildings rise higher, the mass that must be moved also increases significantly, placing greater strain on elevator ropes and other moving components. In traditional rope-based elevator systems, steel hoisting ropes eventually become so heavy that they restrict how far elevators can travel, with the practical limit of typically around 500 meters. KONE's high-rise solutions are engineered to address these challenges through a portfolio of patented technologies.
In 2013, KONE introduced UltraRope®, helping address a key constraint in super-tall buildings by dramatically reducing rope weight and enabling greater travel heights.
KONE’s latest innovations build on that foundation by combining UltraRope® with modular UMX hoisting machines, wireless power and data transfer, self-charging technology, electromechanical safety gear, and advanced destination control systems. Together, they respond to the evolving demands of high-rise construction and extend what can be achieved at extreme heights. Many of these capabilities can also deliver gains in space utilization, energy efficiency, and performance in medium-rise buildings. The result is a range of benefits:
-
Enabling exceptional travel heights: KONE high-rise wireless solutions use wireless data transmission and battery-based energy to eliminate the need for heavy traveling cables and overspeed governor ropes. This reduces system mass by approximately 3,000 kg in an elevator with 300 meters of travel while making operation nearly immune to building sway.
-
Freeing up valuable space: KONE MiniSpace™ solutions maximize horizontal and vertical space efficiency, giving architects greater design freedom. By creating space for an additional floor and eliminating the need for a dedicated basement level, they help maximize valuable floor area while simplifying foundation requirements. KONE MiniSpace™ DX Double Deck can further improve efficiency by carrying more passengers using fewer shafts.
-
Improving energy and material efficiency: Advanced destination control uses AI to optimize elevator operation and improve energy efficiency. Combined with KONE UltraRope®, the compact modular UMX800 machine, and wireless power and data transmission, the solution also reduces material requirements and carbon emissions. UMX hoisting machines alone can remove up to 7-8 tons of material from an ultra-tall building. Over a typical 25-year lifecycle, KONE UltraRope® can help avoid up to 112 tCO₂e through reduced maintenance and rope replacement requirements.
-
Enhancing the user experience with elevators that think and learn: Acting as the brains of the building, KONE’s advanced destination control uses AI to understand how people move through a building and continuously optimize elevator allocation. By learning and adapting over time, it can reduce travel times by approximately 60% during peak traffic conditions.
-
Modernizing the built environment with skyscraper technology: The technologies launched today can also be applied to existing buildings, helping improve energy efficiency, optimize people flow, and support higher-speed elevators within existing shafts.
“By combining patented technologies, advanced engineering and lifecycle expertise, we are helping customers overcome constraints that have traditionally limited vertical construction. The same solutions that support complex high-rise projects today can help shape the next generation of urban development as more buildings reach past the 1-kilometer mark,” says Pascal Nassour, Senior Vice President, Global Major Projects at KONE.
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS
KONE High Rise Solutions include:
-
A lighter, modular UMX machine, which reduces machine room requirements by 2 meters and is easier to transport into confined machine room spaces in existing buildings undergoing modernization.
-
A KONE MiniSpace™ DX Double Deck double-deck elevator, which carries more passengers using fewer shafts and helps free up valuable horizontal and vertical space within buildings.
-
An advanced destination control system (DCS), which uses self-learning AI to understand how people move through a building, optimize elevator allocation and improve energy efficiency.
-
Wireless power and data transfer technologies, which eliminate the need for traveling cables used to transfer power and data through the elevator system.
-
An electromechanical safety gear system, which replaces a traditional rope-based safety device with a digital alternative that eliminates the need for a governor rope.
For further information, please contact:
Eveliina Linderborg, Senior Vice President, Communications, KONE Corporation, +358451722151, media@kone.com.
Read more:
Previous press releases are available at www.kone.com/en/news-and-insights/releases/
Read more about KONE high rise technology: https://www.kone.com/global/en/major-projects/high-rise-solutions.html
About KONE
At KONE, our purpose is to shape the future of cities. As a global leader in the elevator and escalator industry, we move two billion people every day, making their journeys safe, convenient and reliable with smart and sustainable People Flow®. In 2025, KONE had annual sales of EUR 11.2 billion, and at the end of the year over 60,000 employees in close to 70 countries. KONE class B shares are listed on the Nasdaq Helsinki Ltd. in Finland.