HTT chief Dirk Ahblorn claims hyperloop ride will work cheaper than subway
15 Mar 2016
The hyperloop, touted as the future of transportation, comprises a system of low-pressure tubes that allow ''capsules'' with people to travel at high speeds across long distances.
According to Dirk Ahlborn, CEO of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies one of the companies vying to build the transportation of the future, the five-hour long drive from Los Angeles to San Francisco, for example, take only 36-minutes with a hyperloop.
During a keynote at South by Southwest (SXSW) Conferences & Festival, which brings independent films, music and emerging technologies (SXSW), Ahlborn said the Hyperloop will work as efficiently for intercity travel as for long distances.
''LA to San Francisco, you are at a $30 price ticket, so then we have recovered our initial cost after eight years. Inside the city, we are cheaper than a subway,'' Ahlborn told the crowd. ''But it's really about figuring out your business model.''
That vision is will take some several years to materialise, however, his company, which is highly unconventional does not pay any of its workers in exchange for stock equity. The company recently struck a deal with Slovakia to connect Bratislava with other European hubs. HTT was also working on another test in Quail Valley, California.
The world's newest form of transportation, the Hyperloop, promises supersonic speeds at bus ticket prices.
HTT also plans to build the futuristic system in Asia.
"There are other countries around the world that have bigger problems when we talk about congestion, traffic, pollution, and these countries are willing to push new technologies through much easier than we do in America.'' ''We are concentrating mostly on Asia.''
Ahlborn said his company was in discussions with city pairs in countries like Indonesia and India.
Since Elon Musk spelt out his Hyperloop vision in a splash of publicity in 2013, engineers and entrepreneurs had been working on the concept, but NASA engineers had pointed out flaws in Musk's designs, and the Hyperloop's cost projections had been questioned by critics.