MIT wins Hyperloop design contest with a tube that can hurtle at 750 mph

By Trevor Mogg Published December 5, 2017

mit students hyperloop contest spacexhyperloop3 — SpaceX

For Elon Musk’s ambitious Hyperloop project, this year looks all set to be its most significant to date. Plans for not one, not even two, but three test tracks from different companies have already been made public, while on Saturday a student team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) triumphed in a contest looking for the best pod designs that could one day transport passengers between Los Angeles and San Francisco in just 35 minutes.

A total of 124 engineering teams from more than 100 universities across 20 countries took part in the keenly fought competition on Friday and Saturday at Texas A&M University.

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Boston-based MIT’s winning design comprises a 250 kg (551 lb) passenger pod capable of hurtling along the proposed Hyperloop tube at speeds of up to 750 mph, its magnetic levitation system keeping it 15mm above the track as it hurtles between the two cities. Read more about it at hyperloop.mit.edu.

MIT’s winning team, along with 21 others selected for their impressive pod designs, must now attract funding to build their human-scale prototypes, which – and here’s the really exciting bit – they’ll get to test out later this year on a one-mile test track being constructed close to Musk’s SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California.

The entrants were judged on a variety of criteria, including “innovation and uniqueness of design; full Hyperloop system applicability and economics; level of design detail; strength of supporting analysis and tests; feasibility for test tract competition; and quality of documentation and presentation,” Texas A&M University said on its website.

The judges responsible for examining the myriad of design proposals included representatives from Texas A&M University, and SpaceX, as well as from Musk’s other company, Tesla.

Despite dreaming up the futuristic Hyperloop system, Elon Musk and his SpaceX team is more focused on marketing the project and encouraging other interested companies to take it forward rather than becoming too heavily involved itself.

The tech billionaire, who first spoke of his Hyperloop idea three years ago, turned up unannounced at the contest’s climax on Saturday, the surprise appearance reportedly receiving an ecstatic response from the 1,000 or so student engineers in attendance.

Addressing the competitors, Musk said, “I’m starting to think this is really gonna happen,” adding, “It’s clear that the public and the world wants something new, and I think you guys are going to bring it to them.”

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Contributing Editor

Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…

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Beta of Tesla's FSD in a car.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is concerned that Tesla’s use of social media and its website makes false promises about the automaker’s full-self driving (FSD) software.
The warning dates back from May, but was made public in an email to Tesla released on November 8.
The NHTSA opened an investigation in October into 2.4 million Tesla vehicles equipped with the FSD software, following three reported collisions and a fatal crash. The investigation centers on FSD’s ability to perform in “relatively common” reduced visibility conditions, such as sun glare, fog, and airborne dust.
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In one of a number of Tesla posts on X, the social media platform owned by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, a driver was seen using FSD to reach a hospital while undergoing a heart attack. In another post, a driver said he had used FSD for a 50-minute ride home. Meanwhile, third-party comments on the posts promoted the advantages of using FSD while under the influence of alcohol or when tired, NHTSA said.
Tesla’s official website also promotes conflicting messaging on the capabilities of the FSD software, the regulator said.
NHTSA has requested that Tesla revisit its communications to ensure its messaging remains consistent with FSD’s approved instructions, namely that the software provides only a driver assist/support system requiring drivers to remain vigilant and maintain constant readiness to intervene in driving.
Tesla last month unveiled the Cybercab, an autonomous-driving EV with no steering wheel or pedals. The vehicle has been promoted as a robotaxi, a self-driving vehicle operated as part of a ride-paying service, such as the one already offered by Alphabet-owned Waymo.
But Tesla’s self-driving technology has remained under the scrutiny of regulators. FSD relies on multiple onboard cameras to feed machine-learning models that, in turn, help the car make decisions based on what it sees.
Meanwhile, Waymo’s technology relies on premapped roads, sensors, cameras, radar, and lidar (a laser-light radar), which might be very costly, but has met the approval of safety regulators.