It appears that the high-speed transportation firm Hyperloop One is finally shutting down its operations. The startup that once promised a future of transportation at airline speeds on the ground will be closing down soon. Bloomberg reports that the company failed to win a contract from any organization to build a working hyperloop track.
It will sell off the assets and let go of employees by December 31
Citing people familiar with the matter, the source suggests that the brand will sell off its remaining assets. Dubai port operator DP World, which has majority control, will wind up with the company’s intellectual property. The employment for the remaining employees of the company will end on December 31 this year. Its offices will shut down very soon.
The rest of its hard assets including the test track outside Las Vegas and other equipment will be sold off. Notably, this track was used by the company to conduct its first and only test with passengers way back in 2020. At the time, the test pod achieved a top speed of 100mph. It was far short of the company’s original promise of up to 760 miles per hour.
The high-speed transportation firm raised around $450 million since its inception in 2014
Founded in 2014, the futuristic transportation firm managed to raise a funding of around $450 million from various investors so far. While it was originally established as Hyperloop Technologies, its name was changed to Hyperloop One in 2016. The company once again changed its name to Virgin Hyperloop One after Virgin Group founder Richard Branson invested in it.
Virgin removed its branding from Hyperloop last year after it started to focus more on cargo rather than human passengers. The fast-paced transportation startup had a rocky road ever since its inception. In 2017, the company settled a lawsuit with Brogan BamBrogan, one of its co-founders.
At one point, it was perpetually strapped for cash. However, it managed to continue developing its system, thanks to Branson. The British business magnate helped it to raise $172 million in funding in 2019.
It was working to commercialize the futuristic travel concept called Hyperloop
Hyperloop One worked to commercialize the popular travel concept called the Hyperloop. It is essentially a variant of a vacuum train, which uses levitation to allow near-silent, yet high-speed transportation. It’s worth mentioning that Elon Musk reignited interest in the hyperloop technology in 2013.
Musk imagined how a modern hyperloop system would operate with passengers in aluminum pods traveling at up to 800mph. The most interesting scenario he proposed was traveling from Los Angeles to San Francisco in just 30 minutes.
While the shutdown of Hyperloop One may be disappointing for some, several other startups and tech players are still working on their own Hyperloop systems. Several companies like Hardt Hyperloop, Swisspod Technologies, DGWHyperloop, and Hyperloop TransportationTechnologies Inc. are at various stages of building their hyperloop prototypes.
2023-12-22 15:04:49