LA to San Francisco in 30 minutes? Hyperloop One reveals propulsion system
LAS VEGAS (KABC) -- Traveling from Los Angeles to San Francisco in just 30 minutes? A group of Southern California engineers are working to make that idea a reality with the use of a hyperloop.
Hyperloop One says the future of transportation with be at incredible speeds inside a vacuum tube in which travelers can reach speeds of hundreds of miles per hour.
The company, headquartered in Los Angeles, gave a glimpse of its propulsion system for the first time on Wednesday in North Las Vegas.
"It pretty much matched our expectation. We accelerated that vehicle to two G's, got it up to about 105 mph. On the same track, over the next couple months, we'll be accelerating that vehicle to over 400 miles per hour," Brogan Bambrogan, co-founder of Hyperloop One said.
"We've custom engineered this propulsion system, not only to do what you saw today, but to scale to a commercialable system," Bambrogan continued.
The revolutionary travel idea came from technology magnet Elon Musk, who famously scribbled on a napkin a futuristic travel plan and challenged companies to make it a reality.
"We're really engineering a commercial system from scratch and this is part of the testing to deploy that," Bambrogan said. "All of these systems are being engineered and tested, and to see this happen, and to see our engineering team get the credit for bringing this together is a great step."
Wednesday's seconds-long desert demonstration showed the metal tube gliding across a small track before disappearing into a cloud.
The company said it's confident it will be moving people and cargo by 2021.
"We can deliver the tech, really we're trying to find the right areas around the world where we can deliver value," Bambrogan said. "Certainly the infrastructure, the financing can be in place and where the regulators can innovate as fast as we are doing on the tech."
Hyperloop One does have at least one competitor in the Los Angeles area: Hyperloop Transportation Technology.
Hyperloop Transportation Technology revealed new technology this week that they said will allow them to use magnets to lift up and move passenger pods at 760 mph.
