After the first test with human passengers last November, Virgin showed in a video what the experience of traveling in yours will be like Hyperloop, The ultrafast transport system by magnetic levitation in tubes in almost vacuum conditions that could reach speeds close to 1,200 kilometers per hour, faster than on the plane, and without being exposed to inclement weather.
The video the company posted on YouTube shows the designs developed by various companies – Bjarke Ingels Group (portals), Teague (capsule), See Three (video) and Man Made Music (sound) – for this project and how it will be the arrival of the passenger at the capsules, their departure, the journey and the arrival at the stations.
This concept shows several capsules starting and apparently at a maximum speed exceeding 1,000 kilometers per hour, something achieved without passengers needing to be subject to settlement with some special high-tech seat belt.
Hyperloop is a new means of transport consisting of a low pressure tube and a magnetic levitation system along with an electric linear motor that moves a capsule for the transport of people or cargo.
Hyperloop capsules can accommodate 28 people. Photo: Virgin hyperloop.
The low air resistance and the absence of friction make it possible for vehicles to drive at very high speeds with minimal energy consumption.
Virgin hyperloop CEO Jay Walder says the viability of the hyperloop will depend on the cost of each trip: “It’s very simple. If it’s not affordable, people won’t use it.” “Currently, high-speed transportation on a daily basis is not affordable for most people,” he says, “but we want to change that notion. Imagine being able to travel between cities in minutes instead of in hours like: how many possibilities it would create!” .
Each capsule of which Virgin has designed, has a capacity for 28 passengers, but the fact that convoys of several of them could form that would travel a few milliseconds apart, controlled by artificial intelligence, would allow send several of them at the same time.
The concept of hyperloop that Virgin wants to promote in terms of mobility of people and load. Photo: Virgin hyperloop.
Hyperloop: The Elon Musk idea that Virgin made possible
The idea for the version of the ultra-fast levitating train, called hyperloop, came up during a conversation between Elon Musk and Iranian Silicon Valley U.S. investor Shervin Pishevar, owner of Virgin, as they flew together to Cuba on a humanitarian mission. back in January 2012.
At the time, Pishevar asked the owner of Tesla and Space X to develop the concept of hyperloop as a new and revolutionary form of transportation. Pishevar had thought of it as a means of charging, while Musk had other ideas in this regard.
Finally, hyperloop was launched by Elon Musk in July 2013, defining his project as “A mix of a Concorde, a rail cannon and table hockey game”.
A month later he made an official presentation, giving the first technical details on how it should work and showing the first designs of its capsules. But he clarified that the project was not going to be part of his Space X aerospace business unit.
Virgin’s Hyperloop terminal. Photo: Virgin Hyperloop.
One of the most relevant aspects of hyperloop is that it is an open hardware project. This is something similar to the concept of open source software, but brought to the world of hardware: anyone can take the designs that other companies are performing and improving them on their own to try to optimize themselves so that it benefits everyone, as other companies will also be able to use these improvements.
Although many of these proposals were taken advantage of by Elon Musk’s satellite companies to test them, the open hardware nature also allows others to see what they are doing and venture to try to improve on their part. Thus, Virgin decided to make one strong investment to materialize the project.
In 2018, HyperloopTT was commissioned, together with the authorities of the State of Illinois, to conduct a feasibility study of a route between these three US cities, with favorable results and is already conducting tests in France in real scale to achieve coverage and security certifications, as well as optimize and fully integrate technical system components.
Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX, was the forerunner of the open source licensed hyperloop project.
The company is also working with the world’s first commercial hyperloop system in Abu Dhabi, UAE, with a length of between three and five kilometers.
The hyperloop system will be built mainly on pylons, some segments on the surface and others underground as required and has the ability to withstand seismic activity and thermal expansion.
By 2025, Virgin hyperloop intends to obtain safety certificates from the European Union and the United States to be able to start operating commercially by 2030. The Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport of the European Commission (Dgmove) held working meetings with several hyperloop subsidiaries in the last two years and is now conducting a security study.
Meanwhile, in the United States, the federal government announced last year the creation of a certification center for this system in the state of Virginia that will employ about 13,000 people.
SL