Engineering students hurl Hyperloop pods down California test track

By Trevor Mogg Published December 12, 2017

Hyperloop Pod Flights | 1-29-17

SpaceX has run several competitions aimed at pushing forward the ambitious Hyperloop project, with the latest one wrapping up on Sunday.

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Although a couple of companies are working on developing the track technology for the ultrafast transportation system, it’s engineering students from around the world who’ve been busy designing the pods that passengers could one day ride in.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, the man who dreamed up the Hyperloop concept back in 2013, has been using the contests to encourage students to develop the capsules, which, if the system ever goes into operation, will carry people inside a near-vacuum environment at speeds of up to 760 mph. At that rate, a journey between Los Angeles and San Francisco would take a mere half hour.

Showdown

Taking place just outside SpaceX’s headquarters in Hawthorne, California, and judged by SpaceX engineers, the 30 teams in the latest competition spent the last week putting their pods through a range of tests in the hope of securing a run on the test track.

Three finalists were selected, with each one given the chance to send their half-size prototype along the enclosed mile-long track on Sunday.

The Delft Hyperloop team from Delft University in the Netherlands triumphed after gaining the highest overall score with its super-sleek, carbon-fiber pod (above) incorporating a specially designed brake and stabilization system. The Technical University from Munich in Germany picked up the award for the fastest design, though speeds are currently way down on those expected with the final Hyperloop system. Among U.S. entrants, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) finished third overall.

We are very proud be the overall winner of the first hyperloop pod competition ever! Thanks everyone for the great support! pic.twitter.com/BKl5bI5iNX

— Delft Hyperloop (@DelftHyperloop) January 30, 2017

MIT had already caught the attention of judges last year when it won the Best Overall Design Award during an early phase of the contest, while Delft University had previously collected the Pod Innovation Award.

SpaceX said that based on the “high-quality submissions and overwhelming enthusiasm surrounding the competition,” it’s planning a second installment of the contest — Hyperloop Pod Competition II — for later this year.

Focusing solely on speed, the summer showdown will be open to all-new student teams with pods designed for the test track, as well as to existing teams with tried and tested pods.

Addressing the participating teams on Sunday, Musk said the event was designed primarily to “encourage innovation in transport technology, to get people excited about new forms of transport … to really get people to innovate and to think about doing things in a way that’s not just a repeat of the past, but to explore the boundaries of physics and see what’s possible.”

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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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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.