Hyperloop One, the global
leader in developing the world’s first operational Hyperloop, released
never-before-seen images of its development site (‘DevLoop’) in the Nevada
desert at Middle East Rail, held in Dubai.
Hyperloop One has announced a
series of achievements in the last 12 months, demonstrating the company’s rapid
progress in developing the new form of transportation. Hyperloop One had recently convened a landmark innovation summit – The Hyperloop One Vision for
India – in New Delhi, discussing how the company could integrate with and
augment India’s vast transportation network with reliable, clean and on-demand
autonomous transport, connecting India’s major cities at faster-than-airline
speeds.
Providing the international
keynote address at the 11th annual conference, CEO of Hyperloop One, Rob Lloyd,
shared a bird’s-eye view of how construction is progressing at the world’s only
full-system and full-scale Hyperloop test site, proving the company is
well-positioned to deliver the first working Hyperloop. The 500 meter-long
DevLoop, which has a diameter of 3.3 meters is located 30 minutes from Las
Vegas in the Nevada desert. The company is expected to perform a public trial
in the first half of 2017. The DevLoop trial will follow Hyperloop One’s first
public test of a prototype propulsion system, which took place in the same area
less than 12 months ago in May 2016.
Not only will a Hyperloop
system benefit the GCC economically, but socially, by facilitating easier
access to critical infrastructure such as hospitals and schools, expanding
access to city attractions and unlocking urban development. It could create a
UAE pan-urban area within a 30-minute Hyperloop reach between Abu Dhabi, Dubai
and Al Ain.
Benefits of Hyperloop include
higher standards of safety than a passenger jet, close to half the construction
and lower maintenance costs than high-speed rail and energy usage that is
similar to a bicycle per kilogram-kilometre. Hyperloop One estimates that
around 4,000 vehicles travel every day between Abu Dhabi and Dubai, with
traffic congestion in Dubai costing the economy $800 million in lost working
hours. Reducing this commute to 12 minutes opens a whole new realm of options,
and Hyperloop One shows an investment in a UAE Hyperloop network could unlock
economic value 3.5 to 4 times over high speed rail.
Speaking at the conference,
Lloyd also shared the company’s vision for how Hyperloop One could transform
the future of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) with a faster, more efficient
and cleaner system of mobility. A Hyperloop system is a new mode of
transportation, capable of connecting to all modes of existing transportation
and helping individuals be anywhere and move anything with on-demand autonomous
transport. A Hyperloop One system would ease pressure on existing
infrastructure and presents the potential for the Middle East to reinvent and
transform transportation.