Hyperloop One test track is finished. When can we ride it?
Elon Musk's literal (transportation) pipe dream, Hyperloop One, just hit another critical milestone: The first Hyperloop test track—or really, test tube—is finished.
The 1,640-foot long tube doesn't go anywhere. It isn't even a loop, just a perfectly straight line of conjoined tubes (Hyperloop said that was always the plan). Inside that tube, Hyperloop will continue to build, test and perfect the mag-lev-based, sub-supersonic, tube-based travel technology first envisioned by Elon Musk in 2013. Hyperloop technology could conceivably cut inter-state travel time down from hours to minutes.
The company announced the milestone on Thursday, just weeks after offering the first videos of their progress in the Nevada desert, just miles from Las Vegas. Hyperloop One also unveiled details for 11 U.S.-based Hyperloop routes.
The news comes almost a year after Hyperloop's first and last big public test. At that time, the company had only an open rail track, and the propulsion test lasted just a few seconds.
What followed was months of turmoil, including the departure of co-founder and CTO Brogan BamBrogran, who recently founded his own Hyperloop company.
The last seven months, though, has been virtually all positive news and forward progress. Hyperloop One secured feasibility agreements with Dubai and the United Arab Emirates last fall, and they've been teasing us with Hyperloop One experience sizzle reels for months.
"Hyperloop One is the only company in the world building an operational commercial Hyperloop system," said Rob Lloyd, chief executive officer of Hyperloop One, in a release.
It's true. While there are other Hyperloop companies out there, including Hyperloop Technologies, no one besides Hyperloop One has built as much or run even a single public test.
The 11 proposed routes, which came from individuals, universities, and several state transportation departments, are the result of the Hyperloop One Global Challenge the company kicked off last year. The routes under consideration cut across multiple cities and states, including Boston, Massachusetts and Providence, Rhode Island, Miami and Orlando, Florida, and Seattle and Portland, Washington. Route distances range from a little over 100 miles to 1,152 miles for the Cheyenne, Wyoming to Houston, Texas, route.
The next big step is to install the Hyperloop levitation guidance motor in the tube. The company still has to build its first Hyperloop transportation pod.
Hyperloop One said they're still on track to deliver passengers, cargo and freight by 2021. We assume it will be on one of these routes.
Where can we buy our tickets?
Topics Elon Musk
Lance Ulanoff was Chief Correspondent and Editor-at-Large of Mashable. Lance acted as a senior member of the editing team, with a focus on defining internal and curated opinion content. He also helped develop staff-wide alternative story-telling skills and implementation of social media tools during live events. Prior to joining Mashable in September 2011 Lance Ulanoff served as Editor in Chief of PCMag.com and Senior Vice President of Content for the Ziff Davis, Inc. While there, he guided the brand to a 100% digital existence and oversaw content strategy for all of Ziff Davis’ Web sites. His long-running column on PCMag.com earned him a Bronze award from the ASBPE. Winmag.com, HomePC.com and PCMag.com were all been honored under Lance’s guidance.He makes frequent appearances on national, international, and local news programs including Fox News, the Today Show, Good Morning America, Kelly and Michael, CNBC, CNN and the BBC.He has also offered commentary on National Public Radio and been interviewed by newspapers and radio stations around the country. Lance has been an invited guest speaker at numerous technology conferences including SXSW, Think Mobile, CEA Line Shows, Digital Life, RoboBusiness, RoboNexus, Business Foresight and Digital Media Wire’s Games and Mobile Forum.
