For anyone reading this who has never heard of Hyperloop, it’s a new type of transit system technology. The concept isn’t particularly new. In an excellent article that explains the history of vacuum trains is found in the 2017 article in the Business Insider. It shows the 200-year history of Hyperloop, which stems from pneumatic and vacuum trains. 

Hyperloop was introduced to provide a unified technology transit system. The system technology anticipates a speed above 700 mph. The vehicles travel inside an air evacuated tube to reduce air resistance which increases vehicle speed. The tube has a magnetic guideway and levitates the vehicles which further reduces friction, greatly increasing vehicle speed.

When Hyperloop arrived on the scene it was an encouraging and exciting time for advanced transportation technology. A decade since its introduction, Hyperloop has lost much of its initial interest.

Transportation is an industry that lacks general public notoriety. Projects that bring industry interest from those outside the transportation industry are rare. When they do happen, it comes under the auspices that everyone who has ever ridden a bicycle is automatically an industry expert. Hyperloop was the prime example of instant experts.

Elon Musk, who is very knowledgeable about the transportation industry, released a White Paper in 2013 called: Hyperloop. Because of his billionaire status within the auto industry, his paper was immediately regarded as transportation gospel. Due to the influence of a transportation billionaire, within a few months there were a dozen significant organizations that received investment dollars in the race to be the first company to reach the premier Hyperloop company. 

As of January 2023, the three largest Hyperloop companies are: Hyperloop Transportation Technology (HyperloopTT), Hardt Hyperloop, and Hyperloop One.

Hyperloop TT

Hyperloop TT has an aggressive business approach with its participatory engineering and crowdfunding. Their press releases have slowed since 2021.

Hyperloop One

Hyperloop One was the leader and made huge strides in their early development.

It was first known as Hyperloop Technologies. After some internal changes, the name changed to Hyperloop One. When Richard Branson came in with nearly $100,000,000, the company gave him CEO title and changed the name of the company to Virgin Hyperloop One. After the initial technological achievements, the progress seems to have peaked in accomplishments. After negotiations globally and reaching tentative agreements, actual infrastructure building is still absent. When the company wasn’t able to implement its hyperloop technology system anywhere, Richard Branson left the company. In November 2022, Virgin requested its name to be removed. The company is once again Hyperloop One.

Hardt Hyperloop

Of the Hyperloop technology system leaders, Hardt Hyperloop is the most publicly active. A recent news article from February 2023 shows the Hardt activity in Rotterdam. From their beginning, Hardt was envisioned as the European leader in the development of hyperloop system technology.

The Boring Company

The Boring Company is an additional piece to the Hyperloop puzzle. Seen as a means of utilizing infrastructure network for the Hyperloop technology, Elon Musk; again, created the boring company to make tunnels, in 2017.

Transportation requires infrastructure. Having hyperloop technology requires Right-Of-Ways for infrastructure of its guideways. Upon the development of the several Hyperloop companies, Elon Musk recognized that any new transportation system must have infrastructure support. The Boring Company can accommodate any transit technology with minimal disturbance and cost.