“Finish near Hyperloop One”

One of the longest-running hyperloop startups, Hyperloop One, which was backed by Richard Branson, is shutting down. According to Bloomberg, this will happen on December 31.

Hyperloop is a transportation system in which a magnetic train passes through a vacuum tube. Since there is almost no air in the tubes, resistance is very low and very high speeds of up to 1,100 kilometers per hour can be reached.

Hyperloop was originally an idea by Elon Musk who wrote a white paper about it in 2013. Hyperloop One was one of many initiatives that have raised and spent hundreds of millions of dollars since its founding in 2014.

Aside from a few technical demos and test tracks, the idea has yet to take off.

The project suffered constant setbacks. A controversy arose between the founders. The project was named Virgin Hyperloop One after Richard Branson invested in it in 2017. But when Branson criticized Saudi Arabia after the 2018 killing of Jamal Khashoggi, the kingdom withdrew from its role as an investor.

Port authority DP World gained majority control and shifted focus to shipping in early 2022.

The Dutch Hardt Hyperloop project is therefore one of the few remaining initiatives. That company hopes to have a commercial hyperloop in Europe by 2030. The Delft startup wants to complete all safety tests with the high-speed transportation system by 2027.