[ad_1]
By Jack Guy, CNN
Virgo Hyperloop has released a new concept video showing his plans for a transportation system that he says will allow passengers to travel in a capsule in an evacuated tube, reaching speeds of up to 670 mph.
The company says the system “will set the standard for 21st century travel” and get people to travel between cities in minutes.
The design includes a series of passenger pods inside a tube in which a near-vacuum environment is maintained, according to the video posted Monday on Twitter.
By nearly eliminating aerodynamic drag, battery-powered pods can reach speeds of up to 670 mph while using little power, according to the company.
Rather than being physically connected like train cars, the pods will travel in convoys, which means they can head to different destinations, he explained.
Pods can separate from the convoy much like a car exiting a freeway on an exit ramp, and the system will be able to carry “tens of thousands of passengers per hour, per direction,” according to the video.
Despite all the excitement, hyperloops remain an untested technology.
The company completed its first test with passengers last November. It had previously performed more than 400 unoccupied tests, according to a press release from the company at the time.
During the test, the pod only reached 100 mph on the track, the company said. Virgin Hyperloop said its track is 500 meters long, limiting how fast pods can go.
The company still has a long way to go to develop a system that works like video, according to Marcelo Blumenfeld, industrial researcher for the introduction of innovation at the Birmingham Center for Railway Research and Education in England.
“It’s not doable now,” Blumenfeld told CNN on Wednesday. “We have no idea yet when this will be feasible.”
But Blumenfeld points out that even a few days before the Wright brothers first flight, people did not believe that the man would fly away one day.
He believes hyperloop technology will come into use over the next few decades, but companies must decide what kind of transportation system they try to develop.
“Maybe the hyperloop needs to figure out where it’s at,” said Blumenfeld, explaining that trade-offs have to be made between capacity, speed and passenger experience in order to compete with air or train travel. high speed.
“Someone will eventually get to the right place,” he said. “I myself am quite optimistic as a futurist. “
Virgin Hyperloop isn’t the only one interested in technology. Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announced a concept for a hyperloop system in 2013.
Virgin Hyperloop was founded as Hyperloop Technologies in 2014. Richard Branson joined its board in 2017, and the company name was subsequently changed.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.
[ad_2]
Source link