Can Elon Musk proves the critics wrong once again? Could he and a team of engineers successfully show the world that a transport system that could travel 760 miles per hour is viable? Hyperloop Technologies Inc. has now become Hyperloop One in a rebranding announcement, rebranding so they would not be mistaken for another company with 'Hyperloop' in the name. Several other announcements about Elon Musk's dream transportation system were made to the media yesterday. Hyperloop One says they have received $80 million in venture capital financing and have built a network of engineering partnerships that will assist in hopefully making the Hyperloop a reality.
The group also announced that they would be conducting the first tests for the feasibility of a Hyperloop in the Nevada desert. The Nevada Desert is becoming synonymous with testing out products from Elon Musk-run companies.
Cheif Executive of Hyperloop One, Rob Lloyd, said: "The hyperloop is real. It's happening now." The propulsion test will be an open air test where the engineers are certain they will be able to reach 400 MPH. Later tests will be done in a vacuum-sealed chamber and will test the capabilities of a hypothetical Hyperloop and will try and reach 700 MPH. They would be using a 1-kilometer track and will test several of the engineered technologies that could send the Hyperloop into the future and into our cities.
The first level of criticism came from the experts who said that Musk's $6 billion estimate for how much the Hyperloop will cost was labeled unrealistic. Experts claim the Hyperloop would cost much more.
Lloyd told the Wall Street Journal: "We will reduce the cost of the hyperloop until it is two-thirds the cost of a high-speed rail system at three times the speed."
The rebranding announcement also comes with a new competition named the Hyperloop One Global Challenge. This will see the continuation of previous competitions of this sort which allow engineers to design mock-ups of what the Hyperloop might look like.
Visit the Hyperloop One website to see how far the engineers get in redesigning the future of public transportation.
