Hyperloop One, the futuristic transportation startup that promised to take us through nearly airless tubes at airplane speeds, is closing. according Bloomberg.
The company is selling its assets, closing its offices and laying off employees. It will formally close at the end of the year, at which point all its intellectual property will pass to its majority shareholder, major Dubai port operator DP World. Whoever buys the test track in the Nevada desert will have an amazing Slip 'N Slide if they want it.
Since its founding in 2014, the company has raised around $450 million in venture capital funding and other investments. While there are still a small handful of startups trying to build Hyperloops, the demise of one of the biggest Hyperloops companies signals the end of the dream that originated with Elon Musk's so-called “alpha role” in 2013.
Whoever buys the test track in the Nevada desert will have an amazing Slip 'N Slide if they want it
Musk theorized that aerodynamic aluminum capsules filled with passengers or cargo could be propelled through a nearly airless tube at speeds of up to 1,200 km/h. These tubes, whether elevated on pylons or sunk underground, could be built within or between cities. He called it a “fifth mode of transportation” and argued that it could help change the way we live, work, trade and travel.
The most striking scenario he proposed was a trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco in just 30 minutes. The idea captured the imagination of engineers and investors around the world.
Virgin Hyperloop was originally founded as Hyperloop Technologies before changing its name to Hyperloop One in 2016 and then again to Virgin Hyperloop One after being acquired by Richard Branson's company. The company came out strong, with tens of millions of dollars in funding and a bold vision for Hyperloop systems around the world.
In 2017, the company settled a lawsuit with one of its co-founders, Brogan BamBrogan, over allegations of harassment and sabotage. A year later, another co-founder, Shervin Pishevar, was ousted amid allegations of sexual assault and misconduct.
The company was also perpetually short of cash. Branson helped secure a new $50 million investment from two existing investors, which helped meet payroll obligations. The company raised $172 million in new funding in 2019, of which $90 million came from DP World, which previously invested $25 million in the company and already has two seats on the startup's board of directors.
The company made several important advances, including building a test track in Nevada to test the safety and viability of the technology. In 2020, it conducted its first (and only) test with human passengers. The capsule only reached a top speed of 100 mph, well short of the original promise of seven times that speed.
Critics said that while Hyperloop may be technically feasible, it still only amounts to vaporware. has been called a “utopian vision” that would be financially impossible to achieve. It is one of those technologies that is also “just around the corner,” according to its promoters, even though it is apparently still years away from completion. In 2017, Virgin Hyperloop senior executives said The edge they hope to see “hyperloops running around the world… by 2020.” Later, that period was extended until 2021.
During the pandemic, nearly all top executives and founders left Hyperloop One, which also dropped Virgin from its name after the company decided to eschew passenger travel in favor of cargo.
Today, there are no large-scale hyperloops anywhere in the world. Musk's test tunnel in California no longer exists. The man himself has become more enamored with supporting anti-Semitic theories than with solving the problem of automobile traffic.
The Boring Company, Musk's tunneling operation, is still digging underground passageways in Las Vegas, but for Teslas, not hyperloops. The future, it seems, is almost the same as the present.
