Hyperloop One officials say technology is ‘world changing’
Nevada won’t be the first place to get a working version of Hyperloop One. But the futuristic mode of transportation could still be built in the Silver State at some point, Hyperloop One officials said.
The company announced Sept. 14 that it had selected 10 routes worldwide, none in Nevada, that are viable for a working Hyperloop track. The company also announced it had begun a feasibility study on a route in Colorado.
Noah Hoefs, Hyperloop One construction manager, and Brian Gaumer, vice president of test and development engineering, could not say why Nevada was not selected but said a hyperloop in Nevada would have to make economic sense and the route would need to have the ridership and surrounding political will to support it.
A hyperloop system may one day be built in every major city, they said.
Gaumer said the company now has employees spread across Las Vegas, Los Angeles, London and the United Arab Emirates city of Dubai.
“We’ve gone from our founders (in 2014) to about almost 300 employees. That’s astronomical growth,” Hoefs said.
Hoefs said the technology of Hyperloop One is “world-changing” and has promise for increasing employer access to talent pools and increasing productivity by eliminating time people spend in traffic behind the wheel.
Hoefs and Gaumer were two of approximately 600 Las Vegas business and community leaders who attended the Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance’s annual awards dinner at the Aria on Thursday evening.
“Tonight’s event is about those who are working with the LVGEA to build a new Nevada,” said Jonas Peterson, the alliance’s president and CEO.
Hyperloop One was one of three companies nominated for the alliance’s Innovation Award. Switch, a technology infrastructure company, and the Southern Nevada Water Authority were the others.
Switch won the award. Jeff Oberschelp, executive vice president of ecosystem services at Switch, declined to comment.
The company filed documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Sept. 8 for an initial public offering under the name Switch Inc.
Contact Nicole Raz at nraz@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4512. Follow @JournalistNikki on Twitter.
What is a Hyperloop?
Nick Earle, Hyerploop One's senior vice president of global field operations described a Hyperloop to the Review-Journal earlier this year as four technologies combined in a unique way.
"You take an autonomous vehicle pod, you put it inside a tube, you take the air out of a tube … then you use a linear motor … and passive maglev (magnetic levitation), and you put it in a horizontal line and it goes fast," he said.
The Hyperloop mode of transit, designed by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, has the potential to cut the travel time between Las Vegas and Los Angeles to about 30 minutes, with cargo and passengers traveling at over 700 mph.
