Hyperloop: Transportation of the Future

Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT) has recently broken ground on Elon Musk’s Hyperloop, thought to be a revolutionary development in U.S. transportation infrastructure.

The Hyperloop, a concept first developed in 2013, is a vacuum tube that would transport passengers faster than the speed of sound, at approximately 760mph, between cities. Startup HTT went to work securing talent and investments from the likes of NASA, Boeing, SpaceX, and Tesla to launch the project. Construction costs are set so low that the Hyperloop will cost less than California’s similar plan for a high-speed rail system traveling at 220mph.

A 5-mile test track is currently in the works for Quay Valley, California, a proposed solar-powered concept city of 75,000 residents that will use the Hyperloop as primary transportation. Residents would be able to travel the length of the city in only 80 seconds. Analysis and optimization of the concept will continue through 2017, and HTT expects to transport passengers as soon as 2018.

The ingenuity doesn’t end there. Plans for Hyperloop include augmented windows that display Hollywood-inspired environments, like Jurassic Park, in addition to digital advertising that would monetize the system.

The Hyperloop could radically alter the concept of commuting, and soon. Keep an eye on the technology of the future! Can you imagine traveling to work in a human vacuum?