The Hyperloop – The Future of Travel?
We had the pleasure of attending the press conference for The Hyperloop at Web Summit in Ireland this year. CEO Rob LLoyd and CTO Brogan BamBrogan were in attendance and we managed to get a first hand account of how they are planning to change the face of travel and industry through their ambitious sci-fi designed project, The Hyperloop.
So, what exactly is The Hyperloop?
The Hyperloop is based on some kind of “pneumatic interoffice” transportation type technology that was the original brainchild of South African billionaire and entrepreneur, Elon Musk. It is intended when built to transport people at 7oo to 800 hundred miles per hour and is now being realized by co-founder Shervin Pishevar of Sherpa Capital, who has so far raised $26 million of an expected $80 million capital.
The Hyperloop is planned to arrive within five years and supposedly could transform labor markets around the world. At Web Summit, CEO Lloyd talked about the infinite changes The Hyperloop could make to transportation industry and that the “the backbone of transportation is based on century-old technology” which needs to be updated.
Here CTO of Hyperloop, Brogan BamBrogan discusses the safety aspects:
“Safety is a huge part of even why we’re building Hyperloop, not only what it needs to be. But naturally I think we’ll do a blog about that later on in the year detailing the distinctions. I think we’re very open to finding the right early routes but certainly freight will allow us to go faster and take the turns at higher speeds. We’re looking at all the options and we will actually be picking the project around the world that will have the biggest impact in demonstrating the economic and social value of Hyperloop, that could be freight or it could be passengers.”
If it all sounds a little Back to the Future, that’s because it is. The most important question remains, will this new technology if realized, lead to a more sustainable and cleaner future?
