Submitted via IRC for AndyTheAbsurd
Hyperloop One claims that its prototype ultra-fast train has completed a first full systems test in a vacuum, reaching a speed of 70 mph. The sled was able to magnetically levitate on the track for 5.3 seconds and “reached nearly 2Gs of acceleration,” according to the company.
The test was conducted privately but Hyperloop One offered some video that included footage from testing. Based on that footage plus a few seconds of additional b-roll shared with media, a lightweight skeleton sled uses a linear motor to accelerate, levitates briefly, and then comes to a halt as the brakes are applied.
Hyperloop One was created as an answer to a challenge from Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who wrote a white paper envisioning a mode of transportation that would send pods at speeds greater than 700mph using a low-friction environment and levitation using air bearings.
Source: Ars Technica
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 14 2017, @03:16PM
Freight is the only thing that makes any sense, but even there, what are people going to be ordering that's so urgent to receive that they'd pay for the space and common enough that the whole thing would be viable?
Most things in the US are shipped via a combination of trains and trucks primarily because it's less expensive than other options. Sure, they could fly things around, but even that is more expensive than the benefit.