Virgin Hyperloop Aims to Get Angelenos to San Francisco in 45 Minutes — Within the Decade
Jan 27 2021
Forty-five minutes in traffic won't get you very far in Los Angeles. But Virgin Hyperloop estimates it will be able to get you from Los Angeles to San Francisco in that time.
The Richard Branson-owned company unveiled its hyperloop concept video Wednesday, just two months after the company's first tested its design with passengers. Traveling several hundred miles per hour in a pressurized tube is no longer a vision of the far-distant future — Virgin Hyperloop engineers want to make it a reality in less than 10 years.
<p>These renderings put it yet another step ahead of The Boring Company, led by Elon Musk, <a href="https://www.tesla.com/blog/hyperloop" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">who published his "alpha paper"</a> plans for hyperloop travel in 2013. <br/><br/>Virgin Hyperloop plans to achieve safety certification by 2025 and begin commercial operations in 2030.</p><p>"Daily high-speed transport is currently not feasible for most people, but we want to change that notion," said Virgin Hyperloop chief executive Jay Walder in a statement. "Imagine being able to commute between cities that are currently hours apart in minutes – and the endless possibilities that open up."</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube">
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="ec0aa458d9310c36f8e1af2aa7b43d3c"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-zSWagCyWio?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Virgin Hyperloop Passenger Experience</small>
</p><p>The almost three-minute video opens with a rendering of the station, a bustling transit center filled with natural light and complemented with indoor and outdoor greenery, a nod at the more efficient and eco-friendly transportation form hyperloop could be. A <a href="https://virginhyperloop.com/press/results-midwest-hyperloop-study" target="_blank">Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC) study last year</a> found that a hyperloop connection between Columbus, Chicago and Pittsburgh could reduce carbon dioxide emission by 2.4 million tons. It suggested making fares closer to the cost of driving than to a pricier plane ticket.<br/></p><p>Walder said an affordable ticket would be key to making the concept a success. Virgin Hyperloop estimates its system would be able to transport thousands of passengers per hour by convoying them, as pods are able to ride directly behind each other in the hyperloop, magnetically suspended from touching each other and controlled by the company's machine intelligence software.</p>
<p>The Los Angeles-based company worked with several partners to design disparate aspects of the transportation experience. The video's white-walled portal to enter the pod were designed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and the pods themselves were designed by Teague. </p><p>SeeThree worked on the video and animations and Man Made Music provided the score and sonic identity — the additional sound assets in the film that audiences will associate with the hyperloop.</p>
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City-to-City Stops in Under an Hour? Hyperloop Technology Just Took a Step Further in the US
Jul 24 2020
A new type of high-speed mass transit that envisions enabling daily commutes from, say, San Francisco or Las Vegas to Los Angeles in under an hour has moved one crucial step closer to reality.
On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Transportation released a guidance document that provides a clear pathway for hyperloop regulation and deployment in the United States. The document was developed by the Non-Traditional and Emerging Transportation Technology Council, which was created last year to explore this issue.
<p>L.A.-based <a href="https://virginhyperloop.com/" target="_blank">Virgin Hyperloop</a>, which has raised more than $400 million led by DP World and is also backed by Virgin Group, hailed the step. It hopes hyperloop technology will lead the world into 21st century transportation. The company said it has worked closely with the NETT Council since its creation.</p><p>"It takes strong vision to break away from the inertia of the status quo and embrace these opportunities," said Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group. He said the announcement lays the groundwork for the U.S. to take that leadership.</p><p>Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said that the guidance "bridges the gap between innovator and regulator" and "prioritizes safety during development without hampering innovation."</p><p>Hyperloop technology relies on electric propulsion and electromagnetic levitation in a tube at near-vacuum conditions so that a vehicle carrying cargo or commuters can travel along major roadways at rates approaching 700 mpg to the "metro stops" of connecting cities.</p><p>The U.S. Department of Transportation also said Thursday that it determined hyperloop projects are eligible for federal funding, including some of its loan and lending projects, just as any maglev or magnetic levitation project is.</p><p>The NETT Council, which was appropriated $2 million to study emerging cross-modal transportation technologies like hyperloop, is expected to provide a report to Congress by December 20. The research includes looking for opportunities for regulatory relief from existing rules created for traditional transportation methods, which may not be applicable to certain emerging transportation technologies.</p><p>"It's clear that the USDOT shares our vision for infrastructure development as a way for the country to not just rebuild, but evolve as we emerge from this crisis," said Jay Walder, CEO of Virgin Hyperloop, in a statement.</p><p>Last month, Virgin Hyperloop <a href="https://virginhyperloop.com/press/spirit-aerosystems-collaboration" target="_blank">announced a partnership with Spirit AeroSystems</a>, an aerospace manufacturer, to produce the hyperloop bogie.</p><p>__</p><p><em>Do you have a story that needs to be told? My DMs are open on Twitter </em><a href="https://twitter.com/latams" target="_blank"><em>@latams</em></a><em>. You can also email me at </em><em>tami(at)dot.la</em><em>, or ask for my contact on Signal, for more secure and private communications.</em></p>
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