The story of Hyperloop One is a tale of ambition, innovation and unexpected challenges. Starting from a futuristic idea of Elon Musk and thanks to the support of investors like Richard Branson, Hyperloop One set out to change the world of transportation forever. With an investment of $450 million, the project promised to realize the dream of a hypersonic train.
However, behind the aura of progress and possibility, lurked difficulties that ultimately sealed the company's fate. Which? We'll get there slowly.
Origins and initial developments
The Hyperloop concept was born, as mentioned, from a conversation between Elon Musk and the investor Shervin Pishevar in 2012. The idea was for a very high-speed train, capable of traveling in a low-pressure tube, drastically reducing travel times between cities.
Musk, already involved with SpaceX and Tesla, decided to make his ideas public, stimulating the interest of other entrepreneurs. Hyperloop Technologies, later renamed Hyperloop One, was founded by Pishevar e Brogan Bambrogan, a former SpaceX engineer. With an initial funding of $9 million, the startup began turning the dream into reality. And it also got off to a flying start: Hyperloop One obtained significant investments and strategic partnerships, including the one with Richard Branson's Virgin Group, which led to a renewal of the brand as Virgin Hyperloop One.
Technical tests and hopes
Hyperloop One has made great strides in demonstrating the technical feasibility of its system. Their demo capsule, XP-1, set world speed records, reaching 387 km/h. Furthermore, the developed airlock technology showed how a vehicle could be inserted into a depressurized tube, a crucial element for the operation of the system.
In addition to the technical successes, of course, the “pressurized” train faced considerable challenges. The biggest one, however, was not of a technical nature. It's about the difficulty in getting contracts to build a working Hyperloop system. High costs, regulatory concerns and engineering complexities have presented significant obstacles, slowing progress towards commercial implementation.
In the death of Hyperloop One
The other day, December 21, 2023, Bloomberg revealed that Hyperloop One would shut down, sell its assets and lay off employees. Is this the end of this consortium or the entire Hyperloop project?
The story of Hyperloop One raises fundamental questions about the future of transportation and technological innovation. The lesson demonstrates that despite boldness and ingenuity, success requires a clear path to practical implementation and long-term sustainability. Yet, we saw this recently with the list of biggest tech flops of 2023, failure is lifeblood.
If Hyperloop One guides future innovators to more tangible and lasting successes, its existence will not have been in vain. Rest in peace.
