Hyperloop One

Not to be confused with Hyperloop Transportation Technologies.

Hyperloop One
Formerly
  • Hyperloop Technologies (2014–2016)
  • Hyperloop One (2016–2017)
  • Virgin Hyperloop One (2017–2020)
  • Virgin Hyperloop (2020–2022)
Company typePrivate
IndustryTransportation Technology
FoundedJune 1, 2014; 10 years ago (2014-06-01)[1]
Founders
DefunctDecember 31, 2023; 10 months ago (2023-12-31)
Headquarters
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Key people

Hyperloop One, known as Virgin Hyperloop until November 2022, was an American transportation technology company that worked to commercialize high-speed travel utilizing the Hyperloop concept which was a variant of the vacuum train. The company was established on June 1, 2014, and reorganized and renamed on October 12, 2017.[2]

Hyperloop systems were intended to move cargo and passengers at airline speeds but at a fraction of the cost. They were designed to run suspended by magnetic systems in a partially-evacuated tube.[3] The original Hyperloop concept proposed to use a linear electric motor to accelerate and decelerate an air bearing levitated pod through a low-pressure tube. The vehicle was to glide silently at speeds up to 760 mph (1,220 km/h) with very low turbulence.[4] The system was proposed to be entirely autonomous, quiet, direct-to-destination, and on-demand. It would have been built on elevated structures or in tunnels, free of at-grade crossings and requiring less right of way than high-speed rail or highways.[5]

Virgin Hyperloop made substantive technical changes to Elon Musk's initial proposal and chose not to pursue the Los Angeles–San Francisco notional route that Musk envisioned in his 2013 alpha-design white paper. It demonstrated a form of propulsion technology on May 11, 2016, at its test site in North Las Vegas.[6] It completed a 500 m (1,600 ft) Development Loop (DevLoop)[7] and on May 12, 2017, held its first full-scale test. The test combined Hyperloop components including vacuum, propulsion, levitation, sled, control systems, tube, and structures.[8]

On November 8, 2020, after more than 400 uncrewed tests, the firm conducted the first human trial at a speed of 172 km/h (107 mph) at its test site in Las Vegas, Nevada.[9][10] However, in February 2022, the company abandoned plans for human rated travel and instead focused on freight, firing more than 100 employees amounting to half its total workforce.[11][12] In November of that year the company decided to rebrand, reverting to the name, Hyperloop One.[13]

It was announced on December 21, 2023 that the company would be shutting down on December 31, 2023 due to a number of factors including financial challenges, high interest rates, initial backing and support,[14][15] as well as to its failure to secure any contracts for building a working hyperloop system; it began selling its assets and laying off remaining employees.[16] According to The Verge, all of its intellectual property would shift to its majority stakeholder, major Dubai port operator DP World.[17]

  1. ^ "Fact Sheet And FAQ". hyperloop | one. Archived from the original on September 22, 2017. Retrieved September 22, 2017.
  2. ^ "New Chairman, New Funding, & New Speed Records". Hyperloop One. Archived from the original on December 22, 2017. Retrieved May 5, 2018.
  3. ^ Garfield, Leanna (February 20, 2018). "History of the Hyperloop and pneumatic tubes as transportation". Business Insider. Archived from the original on May 25, 2020.
  4. ^ Opgenoord, Max M. J. (2017). "On the Aerodynamic Design of the Hyperloop Concept" (PDF). 35th AIAA Applied Aerodynamics Conference. doi:10.2514/6.2017-3740. ISBN 978-1-62410-501-2. Archived (PDF) from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved January 5, 2024.
  5. ^ "Hyperloop One web site". Archived from the original on August 20, 2016. Retrieved July 13, 2016.
  6. ^ "Hyperloop Futuristic Transportation System Has Its 1st Public Demo". NPR. May 11, 2016. Archived from the original on July 24, 2018. Retrieved April 5, 2018.
  7. ^ "Photos: Hyperloop One Shows Off 'DevLoop' Test Tube in Nevada". Inverse. March 7, 2017. Archived from the original on July 30, 2017. Retrieved July 14, 2017.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference wired_2017-07-12 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ "Virgin Hyperloop hosts first human ride on new transport system". The Times of India. November 9, 2020. Retrieved November 10, 2020.
  10. ^ "First Manned 'Hyperloop Technology' Test in Las Vegas". November 9, 2020. Retrieved January 15, 2021.
  11. ^ Yoonji Han (Feb 21, 2022), "Virgin Hyperloop lays off half of its employees as it pivots away from passenger travel", Business Insider
  12. ^ (February 21, 2022), "Virgin Hyperloop axes half its staff in focus on freight" Archived February 28, 2022, at the Wayback Machine, The New York Ledger
  13. ^ "Virgin pulls its name from Hyperloop One". Engadget. November 4, 2022. Retrieved November 6, 2022.
  14. ^ O'Kane, Sean (December 21, 2023). "Hyperloop One is reportedly shutting down". TechCrunch. Retrieved December 22, 2023.
  15. ^ "Virgin's Hyperloop Venture Collapses Amid Financial Struggles". OilPrice.com. Retrieved December 27, 2023.
  16. ^ McBride, Sarah (December 21, 2023). "Hyperloop One to Shut Down After Failing to Reinvent Transit". Bloomberg. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
  17. ^ Hawkins, Andrew J. (December 21, 2023). "The hyperloop is dead for real this time". The Verge. Retrieved January 16, 2024.