It looks exactly like something from a sci-fi movie except it’s on the cusp of becoming a reality. Hyperloop is a futuristic transportation system envisioned by Elon Musk, a businessman, engineer and inventor—also, the co-founder of Tesla Motors—since 2012 as the “fifth mode of transport”. Since then, lots of time, money, and research have been poured into this concept to make it a dream come true—and now, they’re one step closer.
Hyperloop One had its first open-air test in the Nevada desert in May 2016 where the world saw a metal sled successfully shooting down a short train track at a little more than 100mph. It doesn’t paint a whole realistic future but it shows that they’re on the right track with electric propulsion technology, which is what the system is based on.
And just a few days ago, Hyperloop One has announced it will be building the first commercial passenger-ready Hyperloop system from Dubai to Abu Dhabi. (The United Arab Emirates is one of the investors of the company.) The 160km trip which would usually take around two hours by car/bus will be cut down to 12 minutes with the futuristic mode of transportation.
The US-based company hopes to have the system ready by 2021 but in the meantime, they’ve released some slick videos to give a snippet of what riding the Hyperloop will be like. In addition, there’s much to look forward to seeing from them in 2017 as they plan to show off the full-scale prototype it’s currently building in Nevada; as well as a public test in California featuring hyper hyperloop pods built by high school and college engineering teams.
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