What will the future of travel look like? I don’t mean a resumption of the status quo post-pandemic. I’m thinking about how we might actually get from one place to another in 20 years’ time. There are many ideas on the drawing boards right now leading me to wish I had a crystal ball to see which ones make it from concept to reality. But not being a fortune teller means I’ll have to wait and see along with everyone else. In the meantime, I thought it would be fun to take a closer look at several technologies holding the most promise and the most excitement. This is the second installment of a multi-part series that will offer a glimpse into what might lie around the corner for transportation enthusiasts in the second quarter of this 21st Century.
One of the most intriguing prospects on the horizon is the Hyperloop. As you may have heard, the Hyperloop is a super speed ground-level transportation system in which people could travel in a hovering pod inside a vacuum tube at speeds as high as 760 mph, just shy of the speed of sound. This proposed mode of passenger and freight transportation is an open-source “vactrain“design released by a joint team from Tesla and SpaceX. It’s described as a sealed tube or system of tubes with low air pressure through which a pod may travel substantially free of air resistance or friction. The Hyperloop could potentially convey people or objects at airline or hypersonic speeds while being energy efficient compared with existing high-speed rail systems. If it ever comes to fruition, it might reduce travel times compared to train and airplane travel over great distances.
Elon Musk, the Tesla and SpaceX entrepreneur, first publicly mentioned the Hyperloop back in 2012. His initial concept incorporated reduced-pressure tubes in which pressurized capsules would ride on air bearings driven by linear induction motors and axial compressors. The first concept paper was published in August of 2013, proposing and examining a route running from the Los Angeles Corridor to the San Francisco Bay Area, roughly following California Interstate 5. The Hyperloop Genesis paper conceived of a system that would propel passengers along the 350-mile route at a speed of about 760 miles per hour, allowing for a travel time of 35 minutes, which is considerably faster that the current rail or air travel times. Preliminary cost estimates for the suggested LA to San Francisco route were included in the white paper - $6 billion for a passenger-only version and $7.5 billion for a somewhat larger-diameter version transporting passengers and vehicles. However, transportation analysts expressed doubts that the system could be constructed on that budget, including some predictions that the Hyperloop would be several billion dollars over budget once construction, development, and operations costs were taken into consideration.
Virgin Hyperloop is owned by Sir Richard Branson and was founded in 2014. Last year, they made the world’s first crewed Hyperloop journey. Company Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer Josh Giegel and Director of Passenger Experience Sara Luchian were the first to ride Virgin's new form of transportation: Experimental Pod-2 (XP-2). The pair traveled 48 meters per second on a 500-meter journey through the Nevada desert. Tied to the two-seater XP-2, they made their maiden voyage in Virgin’s DevLoop test site in Las Vegas where the company had previously conducted more than 400 unoccupied tests. The prototype vehicle was designed with many of the safety systems that passengers can expect in a future commercial Hyperloop, which will feature larger cars that seat 28 people. “Hyperloop is about so much more than technology. It’s about what it enables,” Luchian said, “For me, the passenger experience ties it all together. And what better way to design the future than to experience it first hand?” For Giegel, this test was the culmination of years of labor. It took place almost six years after he quit his job as a systems propulsion lead at Virgin Galactic to start a hyperloop company in his garage. After his ride, Giegel said, “I think a long time from now, this moment, this thing in the desert that wouldn’t have existed unless we put it here, is going to be that spot where people can look and say, ‘that was a really big idea, it was a really risky idea,’” he said, “‘but they came, they did it, and they made it successful."
The test was a positive milestone for Virgin Hyperloop which unveiled West Virginia as the location for its Hyperloop Certification Center (HCC). And last year, the US Department of Transportation and the Council for Emerging and Non-Traditional Transportation Technology introduced a regulatory framework for Hyperloop in the United States. “For the past few years, the Virgin Hyperloop team has been working to turn their innovative technology into reality,” according to Virgin Group founder Richard Branson. “With the successful test, we have shown that this spirit of innovation will indeed change the way people live, work and travel for years to come.”
After a visit to the Nevada facility last week, Branson praised his team, claiming that projects that revolutionize sectors often take long periods of time to come to fruition. “Josh has taken the company from a garage to the cutting edge of a transport revolution in just seven years. We’re proud to have 298 full-time employees now, and I was delighted to tour the facilities, learn more about their work and hear how passionate they are about it,” he said. According to him, Virgin Hyperloop is well on it’s way to commercializing the technology and he believes the system will change the way people and goods move around the world - connecting cities in minutes. Branson climbed inside the XP-2 vehicle during his visit and it will be on public display at the Smithsonian Institution this fall in Washington, DC, where visitors will have an opportunity to learn more about the company.
Virgin released a realistic concept video earlier this year proposing how its system will work in practice. In the clip, the capsule’s cabin looks much like a train carriage with its row of seating in a 2-1 layout, and its in-capsule bathroom. The cabin is styled to feel like something created by Virgin’s designers, and even if it doesn’t look in any way like a Virgin Atlantic Upper Class cabin it feels very much like it does. The video was created with a number of third-party companies, including Danish architecture firm Bjarke Ingels and industrial design firm Teague. In a statement, company CEO Jay Walder said that despite its fancy styling, “If it’s not affordable, people won’t use it.” He added that “high-speed transport is currently not feasible for most people, but we want to change that notion.” The company cited a study from early 2020 suggesting that the price for a ticket would be comparable with the cost of gas when driving between two major metropolitan areas.
There’s a long road ahead to be navigated before we find ourselves at the station ready to hop aboard one of these pods to be whisked away at nearly the speed of sound. But the technology holds great promise so let's always remember - dreams can come true.
Until next time…safe travels.
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