First commercial hyperloop system seen by 2020, exec says at Las Vegas expo

The first commercial hyperloop system may be in operation as early as 2020, a transportation industry executive told a Las Vegas audience on Wednesday.

Hyperloop Transport Technologies has begun constructing its first capsule to transport people and expects to complete it in a year, said Dirk Ahlborn, chief executive officer of Hyperloop Transport Technologies.

“We expect to be inside the first hyperloop in the next three years,’’ Ahlborn told hundreds of aviation and transport industry specialists Wednesday at the Future Travel Experience expo at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. “Technology is not an issue. It is basically all there.’’

Hyperloops would transport people or freight in capsules that hover inside a tube. The capsules travel without air resistance, enabling them to achieve high speeds with minimal energy use.

“We are able to have very low operational costs and be profitable in a very short time span,’’ Ahlborn claimed, adding that people from Google and Facebook have been joining the project.

Ahlborn said he began Hyperloop Transport Technologies exactly four years ago and now has 800 employees, many of whom are paid in stock options. Shares are currently traded privately.

Hyperloop Transport Technologies will develop the technology for the new transport system and then license it to companies or governments to operate. Airlines could be potential operators of hyperloops, he said.

Ahlborn said the biggest issue facing the launch of hyperloop systems around the world is legislation. He said he has been meeting with government officials to solve those problems.

“We are not a plane and we are not a train, so we need a completely new framework.’’

The company recently completed the world’s first full hyperloop feasibility study in the United Arab Emirates, he told the audience.

Ahlborn said travel on hyperloops could be free as operators have the opportunity to make money through entertainment and creating experiences, such as virtual windows.

“For you it’s an experience. For the transportation company it’s a way of making money,’’ he said about the virtual windows.

More than 700 professionals from 32 countries are attending the expo this week to see the latest technologies impacting the travel industry. The expo runs through Friday and features more than 50 exhibitors. It’s closed to the public.

Among the items being shown are new airport kiosks and luggage X-ray machines.

McCarran International Airport is hosting a tour of its facilities for expo attendees.

Contact Todd Prince at tprince@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0386. Follow @toddprincetv on Twitter.