Hyperloop

About 2 dozen teams of students and engineers are creating hyperloop pods to compete and try to achieve the greatest speed and control on the 1-mile track for the SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Design Competition. As we reported earlier this month, the track is quickly taking shape in front of SpaceX’s HQ in Hawthorne, so we thought it would be a good idea to take a look at some of the pods that will compete on it.
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Everything points toward Dubai, especially its port, being the first place to get a full-scale commercial hyperloop system. It was announced in August that DP World, one of the world’s biggest marine port operator, including of Dubai’s Port of Jebel Ali, inked a deal with Hyperloop One, the main company developing a hyperloop system, and DP World, in order to evaluate and develop a potential ‘Hyperloop cargo offloader’ at the port.

Now today DP World announced that it is investing $50 million in Hyperloop One to help the company complete its full-scale test track in Nevada and bring the concept one step closer to the first commercial system.

Update: Hyperloop One reached out to note that DP World is leading the $50 million, but they are other investors too though without naming them. 
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A little over a month ago, we reported on tubes for SpaceX’s Hyperloop test track starting to show up at the company’s headquarters in Hawthorne. Now they already have the entire 1-mile track up along the road ahead of the pod competition.
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Today is without a doubt a bad day for SpaceX. In preparation for its static fire test, one of its Falcon 9 rockets exploded in Cape Canaveral, Florida, earlier this morning :

SpaceX Falcon 9 reportedly exploded at Cape Canaveral. pic via reddit pic.twitter.com/f5x8Sxmza5

— Fred Lambert (@FredericLambert) September 1, 2016

The company confirmed the loss of the Falcon 9 rocket and its $200 million payload, the Amos-6 telecom satellite. But at Electrek we don’t really report on spaceflight (even though it’s awesome), we report on electric transport, and there’s actually SpaceX news related to electric transport today. And it’s good news.
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Dubai is continuously showing interest in hyperloop systems and today, they interest manifested by inking a deal between Hyperloop One, the main company developing a hyperloop system, and DP World, one of the world’s biggest marine port operator, in order to evaluate and develop a potential ‘Hyperloop cargo offloader’ at Dubai’s Port of Jebel Ali.
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The United Arab Emirates, one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world, will be hosting the “Build Earth Live” contest next month (September) which would specifically focus on the development of the Hyperloop system between Dubai and Fujairah.

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Hyperloop One, formerly Hyperloop Tech, who we have seen demonstrate their propulsion mechanism and showcase their ‘tube deformer,’ has now has stated their interest in implementing the high-speed transportation system underwater for the movement of cargo shipments.

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If you follow Electrek, you know we are big fans of the Hyperloop concept and we are following closely the companies working to make it a reality. Hyperloop One, the company arguably making the most progress with already a full-scale test track under construction (pictured above) and several deals to develop routes, is now under scrutiny after one of the co-founders left and is now suing the company along with other executives.
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A few weeks ago, we reported on Hyperloop One, one of the main companies developing hyperloop technologies, signing a memorandum of understanding with Moscow-based Summa Group, a Russian port, telecom and oil business headed by mysterious billionaire Ziyavudin Magomedov, to explore developing a Hyperloop project in the country.

While the deal was to determine if a project would theoretically be possible, now it seems that a pilot project is planning for an actual system as soon as December, according to Maxim Liksutov, Deputy Mayor of Moscow in charge of transport.
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Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s Hyperloop may not be coming to California anytime soon but that doesn’t mean other global municipalities aren’t investigating the super-fast, vacuum tube transportation system. This week, Hyperloop-One announced that it was in talks with Moscow-based Summa Group, a Russian port, telecom and oil business headed by mysterious billionaire Ziyavudin Magomedov, to explore building the transportation system that is expected to eventually surpass the speed of sound.

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The picture above is an actual section of the first full-scale hyperloop test track currently taking shape in North Las Vegas. The 3 km full-scale and full speed enclosed prototype with a low-pressure environment will be used as a test track for Hyperloop One’s technology.

The company announced that it raised over $100 million – enough to build the track – and it hopes to bring the first commercial version to market by 2021. While generally regarded as the frontrunner to build the first hyperloop, Hyperloop One is not the only company developing the new mode of transportation envisioned by Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.
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Hyperloop One, one of the main companies working on full-scale hyperloop systems, shared images of its latest creation: the ‘tube deformer’.  In order for a hyperloop transport system to become a reality, it will be extremely important to bring the cost of the track (or tube) down.

Making the assembly process as simple as possible will go a long way in reducing the cost per mile and that’s exactly what the ‘tube deformer’ does.
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Today, Hyperloop One, following yesterday’s name change from Hyperloop Tech and the announcement of the ‘Hyperloop One Global Challenge’, unveiled its propulsion system for its own hyperloop technology at its open air test track in North Las Vegas.

The company went one step further and offered a demonstration of its full-scale system prototype, which was built in less than 6 months according to CEO Rob Lloyd.
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Hyperloop Tech, one of the main companies developing hyperloop technologies and now renamed “Hyperloop One”, launched today the ‘Hyperloop One Global Challenge’ to find the locations, develop and construct the world’s first hyperloop networks.

The challenge invites teams from anywhere on Earth to put forward a comprehensive package for commercial, transport, economic, and policy case for their cities, regions, or countries to be considered to host the first hyperloop networks.

The goal is to get people, all levels of government and investors involved in the project to facilitate the implementation of the new mode of transport, while Hyperloop One would take care of the technical side of the hyperloop system.
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Hyperloop Tech, a VC funded startup developing the technologies require to build the first hyperloop transportation system, is reportedly about to make an important announcement later this week.

The company invited the media to its test site at Apex Industrial Park in the city of North Las Vegas, Nevada, where it is building a hyperloop test track – picture above.
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Hyperloop technologies (HT) co-founders Shervin Pishevar and Brogan BamBrogan were at the Launch Festival last week and sat down with Jason Calacanis to discuss the latest progress in making Elon Musk’s fifth mode of transportation a reality.
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Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT), not to be confused with Hyperloop Technologies (HT), announced today that the company has reached an agreement with the Slovakian government to explore potential routes for a hyperloop which could connect to Austria and Hungary.

HTT’s hyperloop concept is based on Elon Musk’s idea to create a new mode of transport in a reduced-pressure environment, taking the form of a tube, in which it will be easier to transport people or cargo in “pods” at high-speed and efficiency. In HTT’s case, it could as fast as 760 mph. 
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After SpaceX announced the Hyperloop Pod Competition last year, hundreds of teams submitted design packages, 124 teams passed the screening round and moved forward to the ‘Design Weekend’, where a panel of judges consisting of Tesla and SpaceX engineers selected 23 winners.

The winning teams shared ~$250,000 in cash to help them build their pod prototypes for the final phase of the competition which will take the form of a race on SpaceX’s upcoming test track, but most teams are also courting sponsors since the cost of a pod prototype is estimated to be well into the 5 figures.
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Hyperloop Tech co-founder and CTO Brogan Bambrogan was at the World Government Summit to pitch the Hyperloop to a crowd of government officials and world leaders today. You can watch his full pitch below:
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Electrek has learned that Hyperloop Tech, a well-funded private company developing Elon Musk’s hyperloop, recently hired the man behind the failed ‘UK Ultraspeed’ maglev project to lead the company’s global business development for passenger systems.
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SpaceX and Texas A&M University hosted the ‘Design Weekend’ phase of the ‘Hyperloop Pod Competition’ this weekend and a team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) came in first place for having the best design by a student team, while the rLoop team from Reddit won the best design by a non-student team.

The picture above is rLoop’s trophy and yes, it is signed by Elon Musk. 
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