New York: Think about the future of transportation, and you can imagine the old animated show “The Jetsons,” with everyone flying on a private spacecraft.
Not only did it never happen, but we still stacked on the subway and creaked old buses.
Josh Giegel wants to start from the beginning.
The Chief Executive and Co-founder of Virgin Hyperloop estimate our zip between the city in minutes, the future is not as far as you think.
Giegel sits with Reuters to talk about how this beginner technology can change the way we live and work.
Q: Humanity faces all kinds of transportation challenges, so why do you think hyperloop is the right solution? A: We’re looking at moving a large number of people, with the speed of the plane, giving them the opportunity to stay where they live want to live and work where they want to work.
Hyperloop will move many people and goods as a 30 lane highway.
Q: How do Hyperloop work? A: We take you into the tube, which gives you many advantages.
It’s resistant to the weather, and you avoid many things that cause accidents, such as crossings.
In the tube we take almost all air out, allowing you to high speed with very little energy consumption.
We use magnetic levitation technology, so there is no grinding, and everything is without contact and smooth.
With electromagnetic propulsion, and 20-30 passengers per POD, we can move tens of thousands of passengers per hour.
Q: Are you really riding at your Nevada test facility, so what? A: From starting this in the garage seven years ago, to draw it on the board, to sit in it, it was all very real.
Acceleration is similar to sportscar, and we are dizzy.
The biggest piece of the test was that the world saw two people riding a hyperloop, and saw two people down.
Until then, everyone wondered, “Can it be safe for people?” Now we know that.
Q: How does this accelerate travel between cities? A: This changes mathematics.
Look at how long you are now to cross Manhattan.
Maybe 40 minutes.
You can go from NYC to Washington, DC, in a short time.
You can go from Las to Las Vegas in 40 minutes.
What we did was similar to Roman roads, and spanish ships, and airplanes were indeed – shrinking time related to distance.
Q: What is the timeline to have it and run? A: This is not 10 or 20 years.
Cities can start entering this into their current planning.
I can’t put my finger that will be the first, but besides America, we also see places like India, Europe and the Middle East.
We might see a period of 2025-27.
Q: Because you are a virgin company, what is your interaction with Sir Richard Branson? A: He is the perfect dreamer who believes in what we are trying to do.
What I enjoy about Richard is that he not only started his own business from nothing, but he was an adventurer.
We not only build a new type of transportation system, but we tried to attract passengers to something new – and that was what he had done, from Virgin Atlantic to Virgin Cruises to Virgin Galactic.
He knows how to build customer acceptance and loyalty.
Q: If this technology catches, will he change the way people live and work? A: one hundred percent.
I have a two-year-old son, and the way he will live is not like anything we can imagine.
If you see cities in the future, people might want to live in one field, and work in other areas.
We have seen it with a pandemic.
My dream is to live near Yosemite and then work with my team at LA.
Hyperloop will give you the potential to do both.
Q: What do you want people to know about this technology? A: Great ideas don’t have to take a long time.
You can go from the garage to the idea of Moonshot in a few years.
This decade can end up with hundreds of millions of people riding a hyperloop.
For people who think this technology is far away, I go up one.
Now.
All of the above hyperloop: how your trip can change
