Hyperloop is a new mode of transport first envisioned by Tesla and Space CEO Elon Musk. It consists of a low-pressure environment taking the form of a tube in which pods travel at high-speed.
Several people brought forward similar ideas, but the term and specific system was first revealed to the public in a white paper published by Musk and a few engineers at Tesla and SpaceX in 2013.
He open-sourced the concept and several startups have since launched efforts to make the concept a reality.
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. Expand Expanding Close
This weekend, Texas A&M University will be hosting SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition’s “Design Weekend”. Over 1,000 students and engineers forming 124 teams are competing for a chance to build their own Hyperloop pod prototypes and race them at SpaceX’s upcoming test track. Expand Expanding Close
You might remember Arx Pax’s Hendo Hover with its succesful Kickstarter campaign and marketing with Tony Hawk last year. No matter how cool it looked at first glance and how much coverage it attracted, the Hendo doesn’t have much of a future as a hoverboard due to the need for a conductive surface.
It needs to operate in a controlled environment, much like the hyperloop. The hyperloop’s tube or track is basically a low-pressure controlled environment to make things travels at high-speed with less resistance. It makes the hyperloop and the Hendo technology a good match, or at least Arx Pax thinks so since it is trying to become a supplier for the companies trying to make the hyperloop a reality. Expand Expanding Close
Open air track aside and more interestingly, the company is also working on a 3 km full-scale and full speed enclosed prototype with a low-pressure environment and the latest images from the site (see above) show it’s already under-construction. Expand Expanding Close
T Sportline is a car tuner exclusively focusing on Tesla vehicles. The company must be ecstatic to finally have a new vehicle to work on since 2012 and they didn’t lose any time. They recently took delivery of a Signature Model X, making them one of the few lucky owner of the all-electric SUV. Expand Expanding Close
Hyperloop Technologies Inc. announced today a deal with Nevada officials to build a new test track for “Propulsion Open Air Test” (POAT) in the state. Hardware will begin arriving this month at the Apex Industrial Park in the City of North Las Vegas, and testing should begin in early 2016. Expand Expanding Close
SpaceX is moving forward with its Hyperloop prototype test track for its “pod competition”. The company released the revised specifications of the test track (embed below) in which the competing teams will race their pods. The track will be 1-mile long , have a 6-ft diameter and be capable of creating a 99.8% vacuum environment. Expand Expanding Close
Hyperloop Tech announced today the closing of $26 million in convertible note financing, which is part of a $80 million Series B round the company is trying to close by the end of year. Recently appointed CEO Rob Lloyd made the announcement with co-founders Brogan BamBrogan and Shervin Pishevar at the 2015 Web Summit in Dublin earlier today. Expand Expanding Close
Hyperloop Technologies Inc. recently inaugurated its Innovation Campus in Los Angeles and at the same time, celebrated the hiring of its new CEO, Cisco veteran Rob Lloyd. At the event, the company hosted hundreds of affluent investors, artists, engineers and politicians, including LA Mayor Eric Garcetti. The mayor voiced his support for the company’s project to make a reality of the new mode of transportation first detailed in a white paper by Elon Musk and teams of engineers at Tesla Motors and SpaceX. Expand Expanding Close
Earlier this summer, rocket manufacturer SpaceX announced the Hyperloop Pod Competition; a two-phase competition to first evaluate pod designs and then test scaled down prototypes on a 1-mile Hyperloop track. We now learn through Fortune that hundreds of teams have signed up to participate in the competition including 130 universities. Expand Expanding Close
In a blog post and appearance on CBS This Morning, Rob Lloyd was announced as the first official CEO of Hyperloop Technologies; the company trying to make a reality of the high-speed transportation system envisioned by Elon Musk.
Rob Lloyd is a 20 year veteran of networking equipment giant Cisco, where until recently he was President. Lloyd is replacing interim CEO and co-founder Brogan Bambrogan (yes it’s his real name), who will now focus on the technology that will power the Hyperloop.
Elon Musk, who published a white paper on the project in 2013, recently said to CNN that making the Hyperloop is “actually easier than people would think”. He then described the concept as “an air hockey table with a pod in it”. Musk is oversimplifying the concept, but he is not lying either. The goal is to create a low-pressure environment, in this case a tube, in which it will be easier to move things really fast. In other word, it’s recreating the operating environment of an airplane at high altitude, but on the ground. Expand Expanding Close
The Hyperloop is a new mode of transport consisting of a reduced-pressure tube in which pods powered by solar energy can travel at extremely high-speed due to the low pressure. Two years ago the Hyperloop was only a white paper published by Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, but now two independent companies are working hard to make the project happen.
The Hyperloop is a new mode of transportation detailed in a white paper by tech billionaire Elon Musk and with the help of informal teams of engineers from the two companies he leads; Tesla Motors and SpaceX. The idea is to create a reduced-pressure environment in which it will be easier to transport people or cargo at high-speed and efficiency. This environment would take the form of a tube in which pods would travel at up to 750 miles per hour. The original concept presented in the paper would have been able to travel the distance between Los Angeles and San Fransisco (354 miles) in less than 35 minutes.
Elon Musk, being busy running Tesla and SpaceX, decided to open-source the concept. A group of ex-SpaceX engineers, venture capitalists and other tech veterans didn’t waste any time and created Hyperloop Technologies to try to make the project a reality. Expand Expanding Close
The track will support half-scale Hyperloop pods desinged by independent engineering teams and student teams to compete in the “SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition”. The Hyperloop is a concept of high-speed ground transport developed by Elon Musk and his teams of engineers at Tesla Motors and SpaceX. The competition will have two phases. For the first phase, the teams will submit designs for their own pod concepts, which will be judged by engineers from Tesla and Spacex on January 9th 2016 during an event SpaceX is calling the “Design Weekend”.
