Tesla entrepreneur and all around tech mogul Elon Musk is kicking up quite a fuss about his Hyperloop high-speed transportation system, and with good reason. If the system lives up to its potential, it could revolutionise public transportation, to the extent that the design of future cities could actually be planned around it.
This is according to Bjarke Ingels, who is one of the architectural partners that will help build infrastructure for the Hyperloop high-speed transportation system, and who was on hand last week for the Hyperloop's first full-scale, open-air test of its proprietary propulsion technology, which saw the Hyperloop reach up to speeds of 187 km/h in just over 1 second!
Hyperloop One – Propulsion Open Air Test
Taking place in the Mojave desert, 35 miles north of Las Vegas, the test was conducted by Hyperloop One (formerly Hyperloop Technologies), which is one of several companies independently developing the technology after the early plans were open sourced by Musk and his company SpaceX. This week, Hyperloop One also announced a group of seven creative partners, including Ingel's Danish firm BIG and engineering and architecture firms AECOM and Arup, to help turn the technology into infrastructure.
Adding fuel to the fires of progress, Hyperloop One has also secured a second round of financing to support its business, with a round of venture capitalist and equity investors including 137 Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Fast Digital, Western Technology Investment, SNCF, the French National Rail Company, and GE Ventures.
“We're the first to achieve the commercialisation at scale and we want to be the first to build a Hyperloop around the world. I think we're going to surprise the world how quickly we're going to move from this test” Hyperloop One CEO, Rob Lloyd
Bjarke Ingels, said: “Traditionally, the work of an architect is to design buildings for the same known program (a residence or a workplace) and try to squeeze in a marginal improvement here or an elegant design solution there. With Hyperloop One though, we are not only designing a futuristic station or a very fast train, we are dealing with an entirely novel technology with the potential to completely transform how our existing cities will grow and evolve, and how new cities will be conceived and constructed.”
Hyperloop One – Animation
The concept behind the Hyperloop is to create a super high-speed connection between major cities that could significantly reduce both journey times and the pollution that arises from commuting. This involves propelling an air-cushioned capsule at high speed through a reduced-pressure tube that operates as a partial vacuum. It has been theorised the capsules could reach near-supersonic speeds of 1,200 kilometres per hour, but for now, we'll just have to make do with really, really fast.
Last Wednesday's test was a trial of Hyperloop One's linear induction propulsion system on metal rails. The finished system will introduce magnets into the design, using them to levitate the capsules within their tubes. It's a custom propulsion system, so the company had to build a very specific test to showcase the trajectory they're on, which is to build a lot of hardware and prove to everyone that Hyperloop is coming very soon.
“There are many engineering milestones to bring Hyperloop to reality, and this is one of the bigger, more tangible ones” Hyperloop One Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer, Brogan BamBrogan
The founder of Tesla Motors, Paypal and space exploration company SpaceX, Musk first unveiled the concept for Hyperloop in 2013 and developed it through SpaceX. He then open-sourced the technology and is no longer directly involved in its development. Although Hyperloop One is not the only company in the race to build the Hyperloop, this test definitely edges them into the lead. Hyperloop One's current main competitor is Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, who are currently building a test track in California and are already in discussions to build Hyperloops between the European cities of Budapest, Vienna and Bratislava. As far as the US is concerned though, Musk is in a field of his own, and with the already revealed plans to begin construction soon on a 5-mile test track in Kings County, California, his ordained future of public transportation could be just over the horizon.
Hyperloop One – Control Room POV
Benjamin Hiorns is a freelance writer and struggling musician from the dark heart of Kidderminster in the UK.
