Hyperloop startup reveals official name

Hyperloop startup reveals official name

The new company, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies Inc., was named in collaboration with 587 different interested parties via the website, JumpStartFund.

Back in August, when Elon Musk finally unveiled the conceptual designs behind the Hyperloop – the high-speed transportation method that could supposedly take a group of commuters from San Francisco to Los Angeles in a half hour’s time – the billionaire CEO of Tesla Motors and SpaceX said that he had no “plans to execute” the design because he would never have enough time to give himself fully to the project. He revealed the design, which he had been teasing for months, in the hopes that someone else would take his ideas and innovations, improve them, and turn them into a reality.

In September, a group came forward announcing that it would undertake Musk’s challenge, and as of this week, that group has a name. The new company, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies Inc., was named in collaboration with 587 different interested parties via the website, JumpStartFund, a crowdsourcing site designed for hashing out ideas and securing project funds.

The Hyperloop, in essence a long subterranean tube through which capsules could be blasted by little more than air, will not be developed entirely without Musk’s connection. In fact, Dr. Marco Villa, one of the technical advisers and overall leaders of the project, is a former mission director from SpaceX. The actual leadership role, however, will be taken by Dirk Ahlborn, who is currently the CEO of both Hyperloop Transportation Technologies Inc. and JumpStartFund. Ahlborn has been quoted saying that Musk has not had any direct input on the project thus far, but the billionaire CEO could certainly come into the picture at some point for technical assistance, or (more likely) for funding support.

That’s not to say that Hyperloop Transportation Technologies has no source of financial support. The company and its namesake project scored a major partnership in September with ANSYS, an engineering and software simulation company that will provide “technical support” to Ahlborn and his team. ANSYS executed a feasibility analysis of Musk’s plans for the Hyperloop earlier this year – separate from Hyperloop Transportation Technologies Inc. – and found that the high-speed transit system was entirely possible with modern technology, so it is highly likely that the company will go to great lengths to see the concept brought to life.

Hyperloop Transportation Technologies also has support from partners in the manufacturing sector, including GloCal, a supply chain company, and SuprStudio, a UCLA architectural design program. Both will help with the building of the hyperloop tube and capsule, while the latter will undoubtedly assist with the difficult processes of securing approval for a subterranean tunnel system.

 

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