Here’s What the First Full-Scale Test of the Hyperloop Will Look Like

Wednesday good morning , in the Nevada desert , one of the companies working to develop a hyperloop will deliver a cogent evidence of concept — the first full - scale demonstration of the deportation technology that will be able totravel at speeds over 300 mphin an subject - air environs , potentially changing the future of transit along the way .

What engineers are calling a “ actuation open - melodic phrase test ” ( POAT ) will be the first public peek at theelectromagnetic propulsion systemdeveloped by Hyperloop One , formerly Hyperloop Technologies , which release this life today . The ship’s company ’s name change , also foretell today , will differentiate the two - class - one-time inauguration from its competitor Hyperloop Transportation Technologies ( HTT ) . On Monday , HTT made its own announcement that it hadlicensed a different propulsion engineering using passive magnetised levitation .

“ We ’ve tested levitation technologies , we ’ve tested the aerodynamics in those low-spirited - pressure environment , we ’ve tested the tube , ” said CEO Rob Lloyd , when I encounter him at Hyperloop One ’s headquarters in business district Los Angeles , where about 160 employee are exploit on the undertaking . “ So we ’ve done testing of all the systems but only can demonstrate this if we build it at full - scale . ” At the destruction of last year , Hyperloop One acquired theland in Nevadato bulge building acomplete prototype , which Lloyd estimates will be quick by the end of 2016 . The pods should be able to reach speeds over 700 mph once install in the humbled - insistence tubes .

Although Hyperloop One could not annotate on announcements by its competitor , I did ask Josh Giegel , senior vice president of engine room , to excuse the difference between passive magnetized levitation and Hyperloop One’spropulsion engineering . He could not go into item about what engineering science will be used on tomorrow ’s trial , only confirming that it uses electromagnetic energy . But Giegel also said that Hyperloop One is not tied to any specific engineering science . “ We think strongly in testing excogitation as chop-chop as we can to release the product , get feedback , and make upgrade , ” he said . “ We feel the propulsion engineering science that we are demonstrating the right way now is an passing novel way of doing this . ”

Beyond the propulsion tech demonstration , Hyperloop One also announce a long tilt of fresh partners today , most notably the addition of Danish designer Bjarke Ingels and his firm BIG . Ingels , who is known for hisambitious public substructure labor , will give some much - needed aim guidance for how Hyperloop One ’s projects might start to integrate with the cities they ’re meant to serve . “ With hyperloop we are not only designing a futuristic station or a very loyal train , we are dealing with an totally refreshing engineering with the potentiality to totally transform how our existing cities will develop and evolve , and how new cities will be conceived and reconstruct , ” Ingels said in a statement .

Also partner with Hyperloop One are engineering firms AECOM and Arup , as well as expatriation and tunneling partners from Amberg Group ( Switzerland ) , Deutsche Bahn ( Germany ) , and Systra ( France ) . This grouping of outside advisor alludes to the fact that the first hyperloop will likely not be build in the US , but in a country withfewer regulative limitation . Among Hyperloop One ’s investors are France ’s railroad track system SNCF , which is eyeing hyperloop as a likely switch for mellow - speed rail , according toseveral European publishing . sooner this year , Hyperloop One ’s rival HTTannounced a planto bring a hyperloop system to Slovakia , but the party still has yet to build a planned five - Admiralty mile tryout track in Northern California .

Argentina’s President Javier Milei (left) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., holding a chainsaw in a photo posted to Kennedy’s X account on May 27. 2025.

While the original hyperloop concept was aim by Elon Musk way back in 2013 as a way to move humans in a manner that might replace flying , Hyperloop One is center its sweat on a shipment transport system first , which many people — include myself — have said is a better use of the technology . Lloyd pronounce he hopes to chance upon these potential vitrine studies with anew call - for - proposalssoliciting conception for how hyperloop could benefit cities . A few of the feasibleness studies already underway admit a better infrastructural link between Stockholm and Helsinki , the effective crusade of shipping containers through the Port of Los Angeles , and a burrow - base payload conveyance system for Switzerland .

What Lloyd and Geigel both advert to as the startup ’s “ Kitty Hawk moment , ” alluding to the Wright Brothers ’ famous first flight , will happen later this year when the full - sizing hyperloop prototype is quick . But tomorrow , there will be an important first step : the POAT . We ’ll cater video of the trial when it happens .

Update , May 11 , 2016 , 1:40 p.m. ET : People are arriving at Hyperloop One ’s test site .

William Duplessie