Hyperloop One has been permanently grounded, halting operations outside of Vegas

Published on: December 21, 2023 at 07:03 pm.

Last updated on: 21 December 2023 at 07:03 h.

Hyperloop One, the futuristic technology company that aimed to transport passengers from one city to another via giant tubes at breakneck speeds, will close permanently. according to bloomberg news, It is selling its assets, laying off all remaining employees, and preparing to close its last office, in North Las Vegas, before the end of this year.

A presentation of the hyperloop system provided by Hyperloop One. (Image: Hyperloop One)

Since its founding in 2014, as Hyperloop Technologies, Hyperloop One has raised more than $450 million, most of it from UAE shipping company DP World and from British billionaire Richard Branson, which changed its name to Virgin Hyperloop One.

For a while, the company’s future looked promising. It completed the world’s first passenger flight on a high-speed levitated capsule system in 2020, for example. However, the company’s failure to win any contract to build a functioning hyperloop system had doomed it to failure, according to the company. Bloomberga report.

Hyperloop One already closed its Los Angeles headquarters in January, after cutting nearly half of its 200-person staff in early 2022. Virgin also removed its branding last year, when the startup focused on moving goods rather than people.

End of the era?

Workers at Hyperloop One unload part of a pod at their testing lab in North Las Vegas. (Image: Hyperloop One)

While a small number of companies still intend to try building a hyperloop — including Elon Musk’s Boring Company — none have gotten as far as Hyperloop One.

In what is known as the “Alpha Paper,” Musk wrote in 2013 that aerodynamic aluminum pods, packed with passengers or cargo, could achieve speeds of up to 760 miles per hour, passing through vacuum tubes devoid of air resistance.

The Space-X founder called it the “fifth mode of transportation” that could change the way we live, work, trade, and travel.

This technology is what most people had in mind when Musk announced the Vegas Loop, claiming it would transport passengers down crowded Las Vegas streets at speeds of up to 155 mph.

However, The Boring Company’s current tunnel system beneath Sin City only transports people at an advertised average speed of 25 mph using conventional Tesla cars.