Support NeoGAF

[E-Cat]

Concept video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fze5spdN3nU

To anyone thinking that this is decades off, the plans are very real and the company is moving at breakneck speed.

A rough timeline:

• October 28th, 2016 - Submissions to the Hyperloop One Global Challenge are closed
• January 2017 - 12 Finalists announced
• March 2017 - Judges select three winners for Hyperloop One to move forward with
• Q1 2017 - A 'Kitty Hawk' moment - Hyperloop One will demostrate a fully functional Hyperloop in Nevada on a test track
• 2018 - A 'proof of operations' facility will begin construction to demonstrate Hyperloop at network scale [on the order of a ~50 km track]
• 2020(?) - The first commercial Hyperloop track becomes operational

This latest agreement makes it sound like the schedule has been sped up more than anything. It really all hinges on that test in Nevada next year.

 

[Makai]

Do they already have the track built? How are they going to meet that Q1 deadline?

 

[Zaru]

I wonder how that sales pitch went to build a hyperloop in a place where people only seem to move around via highly expensive cars

 

[E-Cat]

Do they already have the track built? How are they going to meet that Q1 deadline?

They're building it right now:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L96IM4EOHV4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4c_8GGFDr4

 

[Razorskin]

I wonder how that sales pitch went to build a hyperloop in a place where people only seem to move around via highly expensive cars

Dubai has money to burn.

And Elon isn't that good of a salesman.

"Um, yeah, you should fund this, ok"

 

[gdt]

That timeline is exceedingly ambitious.

 

[ClosingADoor]

Wait, that pod just goes on the road afterwards?

 

[Napoleonthechimp]

Wait, that pod just goes on the road afterwards?

Yeah, that seems new... and something I don't ever expect to happen.

 

[Akuun]

Of course it's Dubai.

Ummmm I'm pretty sure you can't build even a test track like that in 5 months.

 

[CrunchyFrog]

Aren't there still a bunch of fundamental issues with the hyperloop concept? How do you keep a thousand mile long tube vacuum depressurized while contending with daily groundswell and tectonic motion? What safeguards occupants/cargo against vacuum failure? With such a vast singular structure whose full length integrity is crucial to its operation how do you protect it from domestic/foreign threats? Also highly skeptical of the crazy ambitious schedule in the OP.

 

[E-Cat]

Ummmm I'm pretty sure you can't build even a test track like that in 5 months.

Why not? It's basically just a couple miles of interconnected tubes on a desert.

Also, they've been building it for some time now.

Aren't there still a bunch of fundamental issues with the hyperloop concept? How do you keep a thousand mile long tube vacuum depressurized while contending with daily groundswell and tectonic motion? What safeguards occupants/cargo against vacuum failure? With such a vast singular structure whose full length integrity is crucial to its operation how do you protect it from domestic/foreign threats? Also highly skeptical of the crazy ambitious schedule in the OP.

It's not really a full vacuum, just a very low pressure environment. The other points you raise are valid concerns, indeed.

 

[Z3K]

The distance between Dubai and Abu Dhabi is only like 80-90 miles or so, so hopefully they will expand and link all the emirates together after the first phase and maybe link other GCC cities together.

Burj Khalifa terminal makes sense as you can easily connect with the Dubai Metro but I'm not so sure about the Abu Dhabi Station location next to etihad towers, that's not exactly a very convenient location.

 

[Peru]

Aren't there still a bunch of fundamental issues with the hyperloop concept? How do you keep a thousand mile long tube vacuum depressurized while contending with daily groundswell and tectonic motion? What safeguards occupants/cargo against vacuum failure? With such a vast singular structure whose full length integrity is crucial to its operation how do you protect it from domestic/foreign threats? Also highly skeptical of the crazy ambitious schedule in the OP.

Well high speed trains are also vulnerable to attacks on its tracks. I assume this thing would notice any breach to the hull of the tube and immediately be able to slow to a halt.

 

[E-Cat]

Might as well make this the "Hyperloop news thread" until someone makes a better one.
---

Hyperloop One installs the first tube of its ‘DevLoop’ in Las Vegas

In another “it’s really happening” moment with the hyperloop following the announcement of a new
system in development in Dubai, Hyperloop One announced today that it installed the very first tube of
its “DevLoop” in North Las Vegas.

In order to truly understand the significance of this event, you need to consider that if they complete
this ‘DevLoop’, which looks on its way to become the first full-scale hyperloop system, they will have
technically created a new mode of transportation.

The 3 km full-scale and full speed enclosed prototype is taking shape in the desert in North Las Vegas
in Nevada. The tube will contain a low-pressure environment to achieve speeds of up to 700 mph with
pods full of people or cargo.

The company has been calling the project ‘DevLoop’, which is short for “development hyperloop”.
Hyperloop One will test both its track and pod systems in the ‘DevLoop’ in order to safely achieve
speeds of up to 700 mph – an achievement the company has been referring to as their “Kitty Hawk
moment” in reference to a town in North Carolina where the Wright brothers made the first controlled
powered airplane flights.

Hyperloop One confirmed having raised a total of $160 million to date in order to make DevLoop a
reality and get to their “Kitty Hawk moment”, which could happen in early 2017 if everything keeps
going smoothly in North Las Vegas.