Humanity has taken another step toward our promised sci-fi future with the unveiling of a ridiculously cool-looking hyperloop passenger capsule.
Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT) showed off the full-size capsule in Cadiz, Spain, on Tuesday.
“In three years, you and me, we can take a hyperloop,” HTT CEO Dirk Ahlborn told CNBC at the launch.
Hyperloop transport, first thought up by kooky billionaire Elon Musk in 2012, is a type of high-speed mass transport system which uses magnetically levitating trains in evacuated (airless) tubes, allowing for speeds of thousands of miles per hour.
HTT’s capsule measures 105 feet long and weighs five tons. The company has not fully completed its interior, though, which it says will fit between 28 and 40 passengers, according to CNBC.
The skin of HTT’s capsule is made of Vibranium (not the stuff from Black Panther, we don’t think), a combination of carbon fiber and embedded sensors. HTT claims the material is eight times stronger than steel and 10 times stronger than aluminum.
There are quite a few teams around the world developing hyperloop tech, including Richard Branson’s Virgin and Elon Musk, who hopes to use the system to cur commuting time between Los Angeles and San Francisco.
But you might want to think carefully before boarding a hyperloop – HTT boss Ahlborn admitted that passengers would need to sign a waiver before boarding the capsule… which is not at all comforting.
(Images: Getty)
