Virgin Hyperloop One and Dubai’s Road and Transport Authority have unveiled a stunning concept of the pod that could end up carrying passengers at speeds of up to 700mph.
The pods, boasting luxurious and spacious interiors look more like the business class cabin on a 747 than your average city standard commuter train.
Hyperloop has slowly but steadily been progressing from an idea in Elon Musk’s head to real, working alternative to the trains we use today.
Virgin Hyperloop One is just one of the companies that has been developing Musk’s idea and thanks to a partnership with both Dubai’s RTA and Mumbai it’s already starting to work on what it would actually be like to travel in one of these futuristic machines.
The concept behind Hyperloop is a remarkably simple one: electromagnetic levitation.
By levitating the pods you reduce the friction caused by the wheels which in turn massively increases the top speed. To then reduce friction to almost nothing you then place the pods inside a vacuum sealed tube.
Ultimately by combining the two technologies you have a transport system that could theoretically travel at around 700-800mph.
Unsurprisingly, the idea that we could transport humans from one side of a country to another in under an hour has caught the imagination of a few companies.
As such there are numerous projects going on to try and perfect the Hyperloop concept and all of them are in a rush to do it first.
While Hyperloop One might have the backing of both Virgin and two major cities, it’s by no means the only company looking to win the race. Hyperloop Transportation Technologies is already working with a number of cities in the US on the feasibility of implementing the technology across North America.