The company’s Nevada test included a full scale pod racing along 500 meters of track, tripling a speed hit in May.
SAN FRANCISCO — Hyperloop One, just one a few tech startups hoping to create a transportation network of the future, announced Wednesday that it had succeeded in tripling the speed of its pod in a recent test outside of Las Vegas.
On July 29, Hyperloop One engineers successfully propelled a pod built for passengers or freight along a 500-meter stretch of vacuum-sealed, above-ground tubing at 192 mph, about triple the speed of its shorter test back in May.
The company says it depressurized the tubing to an air-pressure level that was equivalent to 200,000 feet above ground, and tripled the amount of electric-motor horsepower (3,100 hp) that was routed to the pod, which uses magnetic levitation technology to hover above the track much like an air hockey puck rides on air.
More on this topic:
“We’ve proven that our technology works, and we’re now ready to enter into discussions with partners, customers and governments around the world about the full commercialization of our Hyperloop technology, ” Hyperloop One CEO Rob Lloyd said in a statement.
Hyperloop One has entered into a variety of feasibility study agreements around the world, including with officials in the Middle East and Russia. Its rivals include Hyperloop Transportation Technologies and newly formed Arrivo, which was founded by former Hyperloop One co-founder Brogan BamBrogan.
Hyperloop was the name given to the new transportation system by Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who wrote a white paper outlining the benefits of such a technology a few years ago.
Musk has never expressed interest in building a hyperloop company himself, but recently tweeted that he had received verbal government approval for his latest venture, tunnel-drilling firm The Boring Company, to bore out tunnels underneath a variety of East Coast states. His tweets said the tunnels would be for a hyperloop.
The first step for any hyperloop company would certainly be to prove to potential investors and partners that the tech actually works.
But even once that is achieved, challenges remain. They include making sure hundreds of miles of pressurized tubes can withstand natural forces without loosing pressure and assuring the public that traveling at up to 700 mph is safe. The biggest issue, however, will be finding municipalities or countries willing to take a multi-billion-dollar gamble on a new form of transportation.
Needless to say, as with most pioneers, today’s hyperloop experimenters are optimistic they’re working on what amounts to what the railroad was in the 1800 — a major revolution.
Shervin Pishevar, executive chairman and co-founder of Hyperloop One, said in a statement: “This is the beginning, and the dawn of a new era of transportation.”
Follow USA TODAY tech reporter Marco della Cava @marcodellacava
