Earlier this week, a company from Los Angeles called Hyperloop Transportation Technology (HTT) which is led by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) revealed it wants to use magnetic levitation to run the Hyperloop.
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Concern over these kinds of distances will be a thing of the past if Hyperloop One has anything to say about it. “On the same track, over the next couple months, we’ll be accelerating that vehicle to over 400 miles per hour”, Brogan Bambrogan, co-founder of Hyperloop One said.
Bur first, the company will have to pass its biggest test yet: producing a fully functioning demo by the end of 2016 that includes not just the motor, but also the tubes, levitation and the auto that travels inside it.
While SpaceX is backed by Musk’s drive and billions and skyTran has government support, the other two entrants in the hyperloop sweepstakes -HTT and HTI – have taken radically different approaches to financing their efforts.
On the eve of the test, the company announced that it will change its name from Hyperloop Technologies to Hyperloop One, to distinguish itself from another Los Angeles-based Hyperloop competitor – Hyperloop Transportation Technologies.
Musk’s hyperloop concept uses propulsion motors and magnets to hover a pod inside of low pressure or near-vacuum tubes at speeds up to 760 miles per hour or just below the speed of sound. There is a competition underway to scout the location for the first commercial Hyperloop.
In the Nevada test, the speed was accelerated to 116 miles per hour in 1.1 seconds, which shows a flawless proof of the prototype which will be used in the final design. According to the Las Vegas Review Journal, the sled was “magnetically levitated” on a single center track.
Hyperloop One – until recently named Hyperloop Technologies – is one of three companies striving to build a hyperloop transport system.
“This is rad, and it’s going to get a lot radder from here”, said BamBrogan.
Hyperloop One also announced a fresh injection of cash: $80 million Series B funding, and the company trumpeted more than half a dozen new partners (and potential customers) across a wide range of disciplines, including architecture, engineering, finance, freight and naturally, tunneling.
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United States firm Hyperloop One said that it had completed its first public test of the system – which travels through low pressure tubes – at 100mph on Wednesday.
