It said it competed an $80 million Series B investment from the likes of 137 Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Fast Digital, Western Technology Investment, SNCF, the French National Rail Company, and GE Ventures.
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The idea is the brain-child of billionaire USA entrepreneur Elon Musk and was first proposed in 2013, however, he abandoned the project after reportedly shifting his focus onto solar energy and technology projects. On Wednesday, it bussed in reporters, employees, partners and family members to watch the blink-and-you-missed-it test run from a grandstand.
Today, companies such as Hyperloop One and Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, both based in Los Angeles, face hurdles that include land use rights and existing transportation players – train and truck companies – that are financially invested in keeping the status quo. Using the power of magnets, the pods will reach speeds of up to 700 miles per hour.
Musk’s original idea was a Hyperloop train system that would be able to make the journey from San Francisco to Los Angeles in 35 minutes.
Its research and testing in the desert is not simply aimed at making a Hyperloop system possible – its goal is to do it in a low-priced way that makes it possible to spread the technology around the world.
One of those companies is Hyperloop One and just recently they held a public speed test which we’re happy to report was a huge success. The test took about four seconds, USA Today reported.
Chief executive Rob Lloyd on Wednesday forecast a hyperloop would transport cargo by 2019 and passengers by 2021.
With one motor and no tube to reduce drag, the test sled managed to go from 0 to 100 miles per hour in about a second while generating roughly 2.5Gs of force.
Of course, the real Hyperloop won’t have tracks at all.
Reuters quotes Brogan BamBrogan, a former SpaceX engineer who co-founded Hyperloop One, as saying the test was a major milestone.
“I anticipate building many Hyperloops in Europe”, Lloyd said.
The test track has been built-and it would seem that the Hyperloop is off to the races.
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The company announced a contest yesterday inviting cities, regions or countries to submit a case for why they should host the first Hyperloop network.
