Hyperloop Transportation Technologies

Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, also known as HyperloopTT, is an American research company formed using a crowd collaboration approach (a mix of team collaboration and crowdsourcing)[3] to develop a transportation system based on the Hyperloop concept, which was envisioned by Elon Musk in 2013.[4]

Hyperloop Transportation Technologies
Private
Industry
FoundedNovember 2013 (2013-11)
HeadquartersPlaya Vista, California, U.S.
Key people
Number of employees
800
Websitewww.hyperlooptt.com

The concept of the Hyperloop was popularized by Elon Musk, not affiliated with HTT. The project was to develop a high speed, intercity transporter using a low pressure tube train which would reach a top speed of 800 miles per hour (1,300 km/h) with a yearly capacity of 15 million passengers.[5]

HTT's Quintero One

HTT also plans to build slower, privatized urban Hyperloops for inter-suburb travel.[6]

History

JumpStarter, Inc

The company was founded by JumpStarter, Inc., utilizing the company's crowdfunding and collaboration platform JumpStartFund. The company has assembled a team of community members, attracting high level engineers and contributing corporations[7] including Ansys for computer simulation resources[8] and GloCal Network Corporation and UCLA Architecture & Urban Design for developing the social interface for the Hyperloop project.[9] A December 2014 article in Wired revealed that the initial development work was done by approximately 100 engineers located mostly in the United States. The contributors were working in exchange for stock options, and were selected from a group of about 200 who initially applied. In 2013, HTT partnered with the engineering software developer Ansys, which ran simulation models for the fluid dynamics of the Hyperloop.[10]

Early Routes

The company was not focused on the Los Angeles-to-San Francisco route that was the baseline of the Hyperloop Alpha design from 2013, and considered other routes. As of 2014, the company was projecting the completion of a technical feasibility study in 2015, but also said that they were at least ten years away from a commercially operating Hyperloop.[10]

In 2014, HTT teamed up with UCLA's Suprastudio master's in architecture program, which designed the [putative] “human factor” of the HTT user experience, from pods to station architecture to boarding and ticketing.[2]

Employee Growth

By February 2015, the company had grown to nearly 200 people, and had announced that it would hold an initial public offering that year to raise US$100 million.[11] HTT also entered a formal agreement with GROW Holdings, the developer of Quay Valley, California, to construct a 5-mile (8 km) demonstration track beginning in 2016.[11] By November, HTT had grown to just under 500 people.[2] In August 2015, engineering design and construction firm AECOM began providing engineering services to HTT for the design of the full-scale Quay Valley prototype track.[12] Also in August 2015, HTT announced partnerships with international engineering giant Aecom and Oerlikon, the world's oldest vacuum technology [specialist]."[2]

Early Agreements

In 2016 the CEO, Dirk Ahlborn, announced an agreement with the Slovak government to perform feasibility studies regarding routes connecting Vienna, Austria to Bratislava, Slovakia, and Bratislava to Budapest, Hungary.[13] Total costs for this project are estimated to be US$200–300 million. The resulting annual system capacity is projected to be 10 million passengers.[14] HTT announced in March 2016 that they would be using passive Inductrack systems for their titular Hyperloop.[15] In August 2018, however, the agreement expired.[16]

In September 2017, HTT signed an agreement with the Andhra Pradesh State Government in India to build a Hyperloop between the cities of Amaravati and Vijaywada. The two-phase project would begin with a 6-month feasibility study which would be followed by actual construction.[17][18][19]

Funding

In 2016, HTT had raised $108 million ($31.8 million in cash, $77 million in man hours, services rendered, land rights usage and future in-kind investments).[20]

Test Facility
Test track in Toulouse, France

In January 2017, HTT announced that it would be opening a new facility in Toulouse, France. The 32,000 sq ft (3,000 m2) facility is to be used to host its research.[21] In April 2018, HTT announced that it would begin building the first of two test tracks at its facility there. The company said that the first shipment of tubes has arrived at its R&D site in Toulouse. The first track, which was about to enter construction, is a ground-level setup running around 320 meters in length. It was thought that the smaller track would be ready for testing at some point that year.[22]

Agreements

China

In July 2018, HTT announced an agreement to create a joint venture with the government of China's southwestern province of Guizhou to construct a 10km long Hyperloop track in the city of Tongren.[23][24]

United States

On February 15, 2018, HTT signed an agreement with both the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA) metropolitan planning organization and the Illinois Department of Transportation to begin work on a feasibility study concerning a possible Hyperloop route between Cleveland and Chicago. The study will consider the viability of the project and will focus on determining the ideal corridor for transit.[25] In 2019, $5 million in funding was approved for the Great Lakes Hyperloop as part of a bill approved by the U.S. House of Representatives.[26] The feasibility study was released December 16, 2019.[27][28]

Vibranium

In 2016, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies developed a real-world smart composite material named Vibranium. The lightweight carbon fiber material for the Hyperloop pods is reported to provide the passengers double protection against damage to the exterior. The company says that its Vibranium is eight times lighter than aluminum and 10 times stronger than steel alternatives. The material has "embedded sensors that can transmit critical information regarding temperature, stability, integrity and more, wirelessly and instantly."[29]

Delays

HTT is aggressive in making forward-looking statements, such as:

  • Feasibility study with UCLA by mid-2015[10]
  • Initial Public Offering in 2015[11]
  • Demonstration Track in 2016[11]
  • New facility in Toulouse, France Jan 2017[21]
gollark: You *can* give that money away, though.
gollark: ↑
gollark: Not in an "actively doing evil" sense, but arguably that's just a matter of where you set some arbitrary zero point.
gollark: For example, I do not really donate money to charity, despite at least having theoretically nonzero money. I feel somewhat guilty about this if I think about it very hard.
gollark: Distributing punishment based on that would make things like advertisements for charities horrible infohazards.

See also

References
  1. www.hyperlooptt.com/about
  2. Chee, Alexander (November 30, 2015). "The Race to Create Elon Musk's Hyperloop Heats Up". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved January 21, 2016.
  3. Statt, Nick (August 29, 2013). "Startup wants you to fund Hyperloop, and help design it too". CNET. Retrieved May 27, 2014.
  4. Poeter, Damon (October 31, 2013). "Hyperloop Transportation Technologies Wants to Crowd-Source the Future". PC Magazine. Retrieved May 27, 2014.
  5. "Hyperloop alpha" (PDF). SpaceX. August 12, 2013. Retrieved May 27, 2014.
  6. Rogowsky, Mark (December 19, 2014). "Hyperloop Reality Check: Elon Musk's High-Speed Scheme Is Alive And Kicking". Forbes. Retrieved January 8, 2015.
  7. Little, James (October 31, 2013). "JumpStartFund-Backed 'Hyperloop Transportation Technologies Inc.' to Publish Next Hyperloop Development Milestones" (Press release). Business Wire. Retrieved January 8, 2015.
  8. Chang, Jon M. (October 31, 2013). "Hyperloop Set in Motion, Prototype Design Scheduled for June 2014". ABC News. Retrieved May 27, 2014.
  9. Kaplan, Jeremy A. (October 31, 2013). "Company plans to turn Hyperloop dream into hypercool reality". Fox News. Retrieved May 27, 2014.
  10. Davies, Alex (December 18, 2014). "These Dreamers Are Actually Making Progress Building Elon's Hyperloop". Wired. Retrieved December 19, 2014.
  11. Mack, Eric (February 26, 2015). "California is getting a Hyperloop, but not where you think". Gizmag. Retrieved March 2, 2015.
  12. Howe, Marc (August 31, 2015). "Engineering Giant AECOM Will Work On Hyperloop Project". CleanTechnica. Retrieved February 3, 2016.
  13. "HTT reaches agreement with Slovakia". PR Newswire. May 11, 2016. Retrieved November 23, 2016.
  14. Andrei, Mihai (March 28, 2016). "The Hyperloop is about to be built - in Europe". ZME Science. Romania. Retrieved May 12, 2016.
  15. Cooper, Daniel (May 9, 2016). "Hyperloop taps into government research to float pods". Engadget. US. Retrieved May 12, 2016.
  16. "Hyperloop na Slovensku nebude. Memorandum so štátom vypršalo" [Hyperloop will not be in Slovakia. Memorandum with state expired]. HN Online (in Slovak). Slovakia. August 13, 2018. Retrieved April 5, 2019.
  17. Etherington, Darrell (September 6, 2017). "HTT signs agreement to develop a Hyperloop in India". TechCrunch. Retrieved September 7, 2017.
  18. "Andhra Pradesh govt plans to connect Amaravati and Vijayawada with Hyperloop". Hindustan Times. India. September 7, 2017. Retrieved September 29, 2017.
  19. "Amaravati to Vijayawada in 5 minutes! This is what hyperloop can do for you". The Economic Times. India. September 6, 2017. Retrieved October 9, 2017.
  20. "Hyperloop Transportation Technologies claims more than $100 million in total investment". TechCrunch. Retrieved July 9, 2019.
  21. Cooper, Daniel (January 24, 2017). "Hyperloop company to develop its technology in France". engadget. US. Retrieved January 25, 2017.
  22. Cooper, Daniel (April 12, 2018). "Hyperloop TT begins construction of its first test track". Engadget. Retrieved April 19, 2018.
  23. Tan, Huileng (July 20, 2018). "China looks to the future of transportation with new hyperloop deal". CNBC. Retrieved July 8, 2019.
  24. Zhao, Runhua (July 19, 2018). "Hyperloop Transportation Technologies to build Hyperloop in Southwest China with local partner". TechNode. Retrieved July 20, 2018.
  25. Etherington, Darrell (February 15, 2018). "Hyperloop Transportation Technologies signs first cross-state deal in the U.S." TechCrunch. Retrieved February 15, 2018.
  26. "$5M Funding for Cleveland-to-Chicago Hyperloop Passes House". American Inno. July 1, 2019. Retrieved July 9, 2019.
  27. "Great Lakes Hyperloop Feasibility Study" (Press release). Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency. December 16, 2019.
  28. Litt, Steven (December 16, 2019). "Cleveland-Pittsburgh-Chicago Hyperloop study advocating next steps is released". The Plain Dealer. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
  29. Hawkins, Andrew (May 24, 2016). "Hyperloop startup selects Vibranium for pods because it's good enough for Captain America". The Verge. Retrieved May 25, 2018.

Official website

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