Hyperloop One promised a full-scale, full-speed test involving two kilometers of tube-enclosed track at the desert site by the end of this year.
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Company officials hope to combine the separate components later this year for a test it’s calling its “Kitty Hawk moment” – a reference to the Wright Brothers’ inaugural airplane flight.
“The hyperloop might be promising, but it’s still unproven and just an idea”.
“I anticipate building many Hyperloops in Europe”, he said.
The test, which lasted just a few seconds, was the first demonstration of the much-hyped transportation technology. Because the sleds will glide, passengers will feel only feel the initial acceleration, similar to the start of an airplane ride.
CTO and CoFounder of Hyperloop One Brogan BamBrogan said to people in attendance: “Everything you see out here today has happened in 6 months”.
Lloyd said Hyperloop One had already raised $80 million (R1.2 billion) from backers including clean technology venture capitalist Khosla Ventures, GE Ventures and Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Français, the French state-owned railway company. The test demonstrated that the frame for the pod, a small sled, could be propelled with electromagnetic energy.
Hyperloop One hopes to be moving cargo as soon as 2019 and predicts it will be ready for passengers by 2021. Tubing for the sled and tracks, which will ultimately allow for a vacuum through which the sled can travel, was absent from the test – although even in open-air the sled could still hit 300 miles per hour.
A major milestone has been reached in the development of the Hyperloop.
Hyperloop One is one of the startups that picked up the gauntlet.
“Where can we build this in a meaningful way?”
Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT) is powered by financial donations and the know-how of space tech veterans donating their time to the project. Among them is Paris-based worldwide engineering and consulting group Systra, which specialises in rail and public transport.
Hyperloop One was cofounded in 2014 by BamBrogan, a former SpaceX propulsion engineer, and venture capitalist Shervin Pishevar. The pitfalls include making such transportation reliable while mitigating for potential catastrophes unfolding at around the speed of sound.
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Lloyd says troublesome terrain, expensive real estate and steep regulatory hurdles may prevent the first public Hyperloop track from being laid in California.
